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HARVARD STUDIES IN ENGLISH 

VOLUME IV 



THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

AND HER HUSBAND AS FIGURES 

IN LITERARY HISTORY 

BY 
HENRY TEN EYCK PERRY 



no ">-<?> ^■iTr\'v^\>A^' 



■'T 



IHE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

AND HER HUSBAND AS FIGURES 

IN LITERARY HISTORY 



BY 

HENRY TEN EYCK PERRY, Ph.D. 



BOSTON AND LONDON 

GINN AND COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 

1918 



COPYRIGHT, 1918, BY GINN AND COMPANY 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



6 



^' 



JUL II 1918 



GINN AND COMPANY • PRO- 
PRIETORS • BOSTON • U.S.A. 



©CI.A499609 



TO 

G. V. S. 



PREFACE 

This book was first written as a doctor's thesis at Harvard, 
and it stands now in substantially its original form. Conse- 
quently I must make acknowledgments to many Cantabrigians 
who assisted me at various times in my efforts. For suggesting 
the subject credit belongs to Dr. James B. Munn, whose inti- 
mate acquaintance with the works of Elia gave me the hint 
that was ultimately developed into this work. While still in the 
thesis stage, it was greatly benefited by the advice of Professor 
Kittredge and Dr. Bernbaum ; since it has become a book 
Professor Neilson and Dr. Maynadier have united to improve 
it. The two latter have read the entire proof, assisted by 
Professor Bliss Perry, under whom the dissertation was written. 
To all these gentlemen I owe most extended and hearty 
thanks, but especially to Professor Perry for his tireless inter- 
est and sympathetic criticism, which have continued from the 
very beginning of my task to its present completion. 

The chief difficulty thrown in my way was that several of 
the Duchess's volumes exist in only one copy on this side 
of the Atlantic, and discovering them has not always been 
an easy task. The search was profitable, however, and I wish 
here to express my gratitude to all those who had any share 
in it. Most of all I am indebted to Mr. Henry E. Huntington 
of New York City for permitting me to use his extraordi- 
narily fine library. His collection of Margaret Cavendish's 
works, besides supplying several useful details, furnished 
me with the only available copies of The World's Olio and 
Natures Picture Drawn by Fancies Pencil. Mr. Huntington's 



viii THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

librarian, Mr. George Watson Cole, showed me unfailing con- 
sideration during my research, and Mr. George D. Smith of 
New York made possible this entire opportunity. A chance 
to examine the CCXI Sociable Letters I owe to the efficiency 
of the Arthur H. Clark Company of Cleveland and to the 
good services of Mr. John B. Dempsey of that city. 

For various and sundry other favors in connection with pre- 
paring this study I am under obligations to Dr. John J. Parry, 
to Mr. Andrew Keogh, Librarian of Yale, to Mr. Richard W. 
Goulding, Librarian at Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire, 

and to Mr. George van Santvoord. 

H. T. E. P. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

INTRODUCTION I 

CHAPTER I. THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE . . 5 

I. "The First Book" (i 593-1 644) 5 

II. "The Second Book" (i 644-1 667) 44 

III. "The Third and Fourth Books" (1667-1676) . 68 

CHAPTER II. "OUR ENGLISH M.«CENAS" 85 

I. Early Patronage (1617-1636) 85 

II. Patronage in Prosperity (1636-1644) .... 100 

III. Patronage IN Exile (i 644-1 660) 122 

IV. Patronage AFTER THE Restoration (1660-16 76) . 145 

CHAPTER III. THE MINOR WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 171 

I. Poems and Pseudo-Science (i 653-1 668) . . . 171 
II. The World''s Olio (1655) and Nature's Pic- 
tures (1656) 198 

III. Plays and Orations (166 2- 1 668) 213 

IV. CCXI Sociable Letters (1664) and The Blaz- 

ing World (1666) 237 

CHAPTER IV. THE DUCHESS HERSELF 265 

I. Margaret Lucas (1623-1645) 265 

II. The Marchioness of Newcastle (i 645-1 664) . 283 

III. The Duchess of Newcastle (i 664-1 673) . . . 293 

CONCLUSION 314 

BIBLIOGRAPHY • 317 

INDEX 327 



THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

AND HER HUSBAND AS FIGURES 

IN LITERARY HISTORY 

INTRODUCTION 

Students of English literature know of Margaret Cavendish, 
first Duchess of Newcastle — if they know of her at all — as 
" a dear friend " of Charles Lamb's, frequently mentioned in 
the Essays of Elia. As we all love Lamb for himself, it is not 
unnatural that any person for whom he expresses admiration 
should be of some general interest, and the more one comes 
to learn of his " dear friend's " character and peculiarities, the 
more fascinating a study she proves to be. There can be no 
doubt that Margaret Cavendish is an unusual and engaging 
personality, whatever one may think of her as an authoress. 
Her thirteen volumes are various and varied, in subject matter 
as well as in artistic excellence ; she is at times stimulating 
and readable, more often, it must be admitted, verbose and 
tiresome. The worst feature of her work is its length, which 
proves discouraging to the uninitiated and exasperating to those 
who do peruse her books. Among the Duchess's many words, 
however, there may be discovered upon occasion much valuable 
and delightful matter. 

Her most famous and important single work is the Life of 
William Cavendishe, which purports to be a historical biog- 
raphy of her husband and from one point of view lives up 
to this claim. As such, it has been frequently reprinted and 
edited, and in 1906 Professor C. H. Firth of Oxford published 



2 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

the definitive edition. Professor Firth's wide reading and vast 
knowledge in the Civil War period have enabled him to 
assemble many remote passages to illuminate the Duchess's 
work, so that little now remains to be done for the Life by 
historians. It is possible, however, to look at the biography 
more as literature than history, which is the attitude assumed 
in Chapter I of this book. So regarded, it appears to be an 
early species of "glory-story," in which the truth is so colored 
as to distort authentic facts, and hence it is perhaps not unjusti- 
fiable to class the work as an embryonic novel. Its authoress 
herself, no doubt, would have been profoundly outraged at such 
an idea, but in any case her book is literature and all discus- 
sion of Margaret Cavendish must inevitably have its beginning 
with this biography. 

When one does begin to discuss the Life, he finds his inter- 
est not wholly devoted to the Duchess ; it is also decidedly in- 
trigued by the protagonist, Newcastle himself. He becomes to 
the reader more than a mere puppet or figurehead ; he proves to 
be a very real flesh-and-blood man, a fine example of the Stuart 
aristocrat, the English Cavalier. Apart from the Life, Cavendish 
is interesting from a literary point of view. He too was an 
author; he wrote proclamations, treatises filled with political 
advice, books on horsemanship, and plays. He was also a 
patron of letters, as is shown by his literary productions ; three 
of the five plays in which the Duke had a share were largely 
written by his proteges, so that his position as a writer is in- 
extricably entangled with his position as Maecenas. Chapter II 
attempts to cover both these subjects, and if some confusion 
results, it is because of the difficulty inherent in this web of 
cross-relationships. At all events Newcastle appreciated art 
and, though he only dabbled in it, he has a distinct position as 
patron and author — not to mention the fact that he furnished 
his wife with the material from which she built her masterpiece. 



INTRODUCTION 3 

The Duchess's works all have a place in literature apart 
from their intrinsic value, for Margaret Cavendish was one of 
the first Englishwomen to attain recognition as a writer. This 
in itself is no small claim to fame and is a sufficient reason 
for discussing her lesser books, which is done in Chapter III. 
As has been said, however, these volumes are for the most 
part extremely tedious, and because of this quality, coupled with 
their scarcity, they are little known to-day. Nevertheless, delv- 
ing in them has its compensations, for it is of absorbing interest 
to see how one woman began written composition and how 
she continued it. Her works have no sources but her own 
imagination, and their influence is too nebulous to compute. 
Still the Duchess did write at a time when women were just 
entering the field of literature. Her enterprise may have en- 
couraged more talented authoresses, and if her results are not 
tangible, that is no cause for denying them ; tradition often 
works more subtly than the eye of science can perceive. 

The chief pleasure in perusing Margaret Cavendish's writ- 
ings (both the Life and the minor works) is in seeing what 
light they cast upon the character of their author. What sort 
of person was this woman of whom Charles Lamb thought 
so highly, but who was so ridiculed by Horace Walpole and 
Sir Walter Scott .? Whence grew the Newcastle legend t The 
answer is to be found largely in the Duchess's own books, 
most of all in her True Relation of my Birth, Breeding and 
Life, where she recounts her life from the quiet home circle 
of the Lucas family through her probation as maid of honor 
to Henrietta Maria, until she at last found a safe harbor in 
her husband's arms. Here the truth may easily be reached 
and the Duchess's famous peculiarities may be analyzed and 
explained. Exaggeration and myth set aside, Margaret Lucas's 
heredity and environment account for even the most surprising 
occurrences of her life. When her history is considered step 



4 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

by step and its gradual growth is minutely observed, each 
specific act seems the inevitable outcome of all that has pre- 
ceded it. The Duchess emerges from the test a fallible mortal 
like the rest of us, only a trifle more warped and lopsided 
than modern psychology tells us that we all are. In Chapter IV 
the course of her development has been traced in an effort 
to rationalize the eccentric figure which tradition has built up, 
and to substitute for it a more human personage, whom we 
may come to love and understand. 

This book, then, is a sketch of the Duchess of Newcastle 
first, and only secondarily of her husband ; the Duke's life must 
be included in any account of his wife's career, and no literary 
study could ignore his accomplishments in authorship and 
the encouragement of authorship. Yet, just because this is 
a literary study, Margaret Cavendish must necessarily have a 
more prominent place in it than her lord, her right to future 
reputation resting, as it does fundamentally, upon the impor-" 
tance of her books. Even her strange personality depends 
upon her life as an authoress, and the notoriety which she has 
achieved has been gained in works of art, not in chronicles 
of fact. It is the imaginative mind which is fascinated by the 
Duchess's inconsistencies, just as the Duke appeals to the 
more practical historians. Both interests have their place, and 
it would be the part of rashness to rate either above the other. 
Up to this time Newcastle has been treated merely with a 
cold regard to facts ; his wife has been lauded or condemned 
with a total lack of reasonable moderation. The present book 
is an effort to consider their artistic significance sanely and 
without bias. 



CHAPTER I 

THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 
I 

"THE FIRST BOOK" (1593-1644) 

If William and Margaret Cavendish, first Duke and Duchess 
of Newcastle, deserve any place in the history of literature, 
their first claim rests on the wife's biography of her husband. 
The Life of the Thrice Noble, High and Puissant Prince, 
William Cavendishe, Duke, Marquess and Earl of Newcastle, 
Written by the thrice Noble, Illustrious and Excellent Princess, 
Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle, His Wife was printed in 
London by A. Maxwell in 1667. The following year appeared 
a Latin translation by Walter Charleton, later to be known as 
President of the College of Physicians ; and a second English 
edition in 1675 bears witness to the volume's immediate 
popularity. That it has maintained an audience to our own 
day is shown by frequent reprintings, the last and best-edited by 
C. H. Firth (1906).^ Indeed, it has always been regarded by 
historians as the chief document relating to Newcastle's by no 
means insignificant part in the Civil War. It was written, too, 
in a period when fictitious material was beginning to masquer- 
ade as veracious record, and it may therefore be considered as a 
literary product as well as an authentic history. With whatever 

1 The other modern reprints are : 1872, ed. M. A. Lower; 1886, ed. C. H. 
Firth; 1903, The Cavalier in Exile, Newnes' Pocket Classics. An edition in 
Everyman's Library (No. 722) came out in November, 1915. Hazlitt's Hand- 
book to the Poptilar, Poetical and Dramatic Literature of Great Britain, 1867, 
p. 416, says, "His life was also written by W. Pomfret," but I can find no 
further trace of such a work. 



6 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

genre we choose to classify it, however, critical opinions have, for 
the most part, been extremely favorable to this work. A single 
dissenting note is struck the very year following its publication, 
by Samuel Pepys on March i8, 1667- 1668 : '" Stayed at home, 
reading the ridiculous History of my Lord Newcastle, wrote 
by his wife, which shews her to be a mad, conceited, ridiculous 
woman, and he an asse to suffer her to write what she writes 
to him and of him." But the diarist had already made up his 
mind about the Duchess on extraneous evidence, nor is he to 
be trusted implicitly as a critic of literary matters. Even the 
unfriendly Horace Walpole admits that it is " amusing to hear 
her sometimes compare her lord to Julius Caesar, and oftener 
to acquaint you with such anecdotes, as in what sort of coach 
he went to Amsterdam." ^ 

Yet at the other end of the scale is to be found the most 
extravagant adulation. Perhaps the authoress's rank had its 
share in producing such a letter as that addressed to her by 
the University of Cambridge, in which it is asserted that 
" hereafter, if generous and highborn men shall search our 
library for a model of a most accomplished general, they 
shall find it expressed to the life, not in Xenophon's Cyrus, 
but in the Duchess of Newcastle's William." ^ Again in 1691, 
after the death of both Duke and Duchess had removed any 
such artificial stimulus, Gerard Langbaine in his Account of 
the English Dramatick Poets refers his readers to the life 
of the Duke, "already writ in Latin and English, by the 
Hand of his Incomparable Dutchess ; who during his Life- 
time, describ'd all his Glorious Actions, in a stile so Noble and 
Masculine, that she seems to have antedated his Apotheosis." ^ 
And much nearer our own day the gentle Elia held that "no 

^ A Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors, ed. Park, 1806, III, 189-190. 
^ Letters and Poems in Honour of the Incomparable Princess, Margaret, 
Dutchess of Newcastle, 1676. • P. 386. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CA VENDISHE 7 

casket is rich enough, no casing sufficiently durable, to honor 
and keep safe such a jewel." ^ The consensus of opinion has 
evidently approved this biography. Wherein lie the causes of 
its popularity and its real value ? 

The First Book deals with William Cavendish's history up 
to his flight from England after Marston Moor, the material 
being derived at first hand from the Duke himself or, even 
more often, from his secretary, John Rolleston.^ The authoress 
spares us a long account of her hero's pedigree and is content 
with furnishing a background for his birth and upbringing : 
his father was Sir Charles Cavendish, youngest son to Sir 
William of the same name ; his mother Catharine, the second 
daughter of Cuthbert, Lord Ogle. By the death of an older 
brother in infancy, he was left heir to the family title and 
estate. The Duchess with a self-confessed^ neglect of dates 
does not state the year of her Lord's birth, but Cokayne's 
Complete Peerage says that he was baptized on December 16, 
I593> ^t Handsworth, and Anthony a Wood confirms it.* 
In a letter to Secretary Nicholas from Antwerp, April 2, 1659, 
Cavendish himself writes, " For age I am in less than a year 
of you,"^ and as Nicholas was born on April 4, 1593, the 
passage is added proof for a later date in that year. All this 
evidence is needed, for Collins in his Historical Collections^ 
put it as 1592, which the usually reliable Firth accepts, perhaps 
misunderstanding "aetatis suae 84" on Newcastle's tomb. 
This same error is repeated in the Dictionary of National 

1 " Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading" in Essays of Elia, Boston, 
i860, p. 275. 

2 " To his Grace, the Duke of Newcastle," dedication to the Life of William 
Cavendish, ed. Firth, 1906, p. xxv. 

* " The Preface," Firth, p. xlv. The dates given throughout are from other 
sources. 

* The article on Walter Charleton in Athence Oxonienses, Vol. IV, Col. 756. 
^ Egerton Mss., 536, f. 336, in Firth, p. 207. 

^ London, 1752, p. 25. 



8 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Biography y whence it has become generally prevalent, — but 
it is an error none the less. 

William and his younger brother Charles spent much of 
their boyhood with their aunt, Mary, Countess of Shrewsbury,^ 
and her husband, the Earl Gilbert. This Gilbert was not only 
Sir Charles Cavendish's brother-in-law twice over^ but his 
closest and most intimate friend, for they had been brought 
up together in the same family, because of the marriage of 
Sir William Cavendish's widow with George Talbot, Gilbert's 
father. In connection with this uncle and aunt we first hear 
definitely of our William Cavendish, by a letter from him to 
his father, written sometime in 1604, when he could not have 
been more than eleven years old. In that year Prince Charles, 
afterwards Charles I, then a child of three or four, journeyed 
from Scotland to London and on the way was entertained at 
Worksop, the Earl of Shrewsbury's home. It was perhaps 
because of this royal guest's tender age that Shrewsbury 
deputed the actual reception to his young nephews, but at all 
events he did so, as is shown by the following letter, composed 
in by no means contemptible French : ^ 

Monsieur & Pere Jay pence que cestoit mon debuoir de vous 
escrire par ce presant porteur quel Honnorable entretsnement Mon- 
seigneur le Due et sa compaignee ont receu a Worsop & comme mon 
frere & moy auons Receu beaucoup d'honneur nous gouuernant si 
bien que ses messieurs les escossois s'en estonnoient, principallement 
en la langue franqoise en laquelle Monsieur le Presidant, son gouuer- 
neur est perfect, comme aussi plussieurs gentilshommes de sa suite 

1 Cavendish afterwards gave a portrait of this lady to St. John's College, 
Cambridge, of which she was the "second Found'ress." See the letter of 
acknowledgment in Letters and Poems in Honour of the Incomparable Prin- 
cess, Margaret, Dzitchess of Newcastle, 1676. 

2 Henry Cavendish, his eldest brother, married Grace Talbot, Gilbert's sister. 
8 An English translation of this appears in the Welheck Mss., II, 118 ^Hist. 

Mss. Comm., ij Rep., App., Part II), but I am indebted for the French original 
to Mr. R. W. Goulding, Librarian at Welbeck Abbey. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CA VENDISHE 9 

auec les quelz nous auons eu beaucoup de conferance, Je feray fin 
pour vous suplier, de vous en informer dauantaige semblablement pour 
baiser tres-humblement les mains de Monseigneur mon oncle, & de 
Madame matante, au quelz Je rends graces de Lhonneur quilz me 
font de mestimer capable dentretenir tel prince et en ceste veryte 
Je demeureray ^.^ ^^^ humble & tres-obeissant 

filz Guillaume Cauendysshe 
(Addressed : — ) 

A Monsieur & Pere 

Monsieur Cauendysshe. 

It may be seen that the boy's education began early, both as 
to specific knowledge and, what is of greater importance, as to 
how to use it. The future court politician was in training 
even from his cradle. 

In two homes, then, the future Duke of Newcastle was 
reared and in each he was shown unbounded affection. On 
the whole, life seems to have been made too easy for him ; 
when he was sent to St. John's College at Cambridge, his 
tutors "could not persuade him to read or study much, he 
taking more delight in sport than in learning; so that his 
father being a wise man and seeing that his son had a good 
natural wit, and was of a very good disposition, suffer'd him 
to follow his own genius. . . . One time it happened that a 
young gentleman, one of my Lord's relations, had bought some 
land, at the same time when my Lord had bought a singing- 
boy for £^0, a horse for £^0, and a dog for £2, which 
humour his father Sir Charles liked so well, that he was 
pleased to say. That if he should find his son to be so covetous, 
that he would buy land before he was twenty years of age, he 
would disinherit him. But above all the rest, my Lord had a 
great inclination to the art of horsemanship and weapons, in 
which later his father Sir Charles, being a most ingenious 
and unparalleled master of that age, was his only tutor, and 
kept him also several masters in the art of horsemanship and 



lO THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

sent him to the Mews to Mons. Antoine, who was then 
accounted the best master in that art." ^ Such an education 
was dehghtful enough, no doubt, and eminently suited to 
produce a fine gentleman of the time, but it must, also, have 
encouraged expensive tastes, ill fitting the youth to encounter 
those difficulties which were to beset his path in later life. 

This Cavalier training came to a climax in 1610, for young 
Cavendish was made a Knight of the Bath when James I's 
oldest son was created Prince of Wales. Two years after this 
honor he went to travel abroad with Sir Henry Wotton, Am- 
bassador Extraordinary to the Duke of Savoy, and " the honest 
man sent abroad to lie for the good of his country " evidently 
took Cavendish into high favor. On March 28 he writes from 
Amiens of "Sir William Candishe, son and heir to Sir Charles 
his father, and by his mother heir to the Barony of Ogle, a 
young gentleman very nobly bred, and of singular expecta- 
tion." 2 And at Liineburg on May 9, " From Bologne to 
Lyons I spent just three weeks, staying in no place longer 
than was meet for some care of our horses, save only at Troyes, 
where I rested a day and a half upon a little indisposition 
<which> William Candish had contracted, first by the extre<me 
of cold) and wind, and then of heats, being loath to leave 
<behind> so sweet an ornament of my journey, and a gentle- 
man himself of so excellent nature and institution." ^ The 
Duke of Savoy also conceived a fancy for the lad, and having 
urged him in vain to stay after the Ambassador's return, 
presented him on his departure with a Spanish horse, a richly 
embroidered saddle, and a rich jewel of diamonds. Within the 
twelvemonth^ our travellers were back in London, where for the 
next few years Cavendish lived, attending at court. In 16 16 

1 Book III, Section 8, Firth, pp. 104-105. 

^ Sir Henry Wotton^ Life and Letters, by Logan Pearsall Smith, II, 2. 

3lbid., II, 4. 4 Ibid., I, 123. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CA VENDISHE 1 1 

the Earl of Shrewsbury died and left his nephew his executor ; 
nor did Sir Charles Cavendish long outlive his friend, as he 
was buried within the year. The widowed Lady Cavendish 
wished her eldest son to marry, whereupon he satisfied both 
himself and her by his choice of Elizabeth, daughter and heir 
to William Basset, Esq., of Blore in the county of Stafford, 
and widow of Henry Howard, third son of the Earl of Suffolk. 
This lady, of whom little is known, seems to have led a very 
troubled life until her death in 1643. We find occasional 
allusions to her ill health and once an extensive list of reme- 
dies to ease her labor in childbirth ;i the fact that she was the 
mother of ten children, five of whom died in infancy, may ex- 
plain this, and indeed she seems to have been a poor harmless 
drudge, destined to be worn out by the highest function of 
woman. After their marriage in 161 8, they went to live at 
Welbeck in Nottinghamshire, only coming up to town occasion- 
ally that they might wait upon the king. On August 10, 16 19, 
James stayed with them in the country during a royal progress .^ 
We have now come to Cavendish's first advancement, and 
here it is necessary to distinguish carefully between what the 
Duchess states and what recent investigations have revealed to 
be the facts. Says our chronicler : 

About this time King James, of blessed memory, having a purpose to 
confer some honour upon my Lord, made him Viscount Mansfield, and 
Baron of Bolsover ; ^ and after the decease of King James, King Charles 
the First, of blessed memory, constituted him Lord Warden of the Forest 
of Sherwood and Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire, and restored his mother, 
Catharine, the second daughter of Cuthbert, Lord Ogle, to her father's 
dignity, after the death of her only sister Jane, Countess of Shrewsbury, 
publicly declaring that it was her right ; which tide, after the death of 
his mother, descended also upon my Lord, and his heirs general, together 
with a large inheritance of ^3000 a year in Northumberland. 

* Welbeck Mss., II, 120-123. 

^ Nichols's Progresses of King James /, III, 559-560. 

* An estate in Derbyshire not far from Cavendish's home at Welbeck. 



12 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

But Cavendish was not made Baron of Bolsover in the 1620 patent 
creating him Viscount Mansfield, that honor coming with the 
title of Newcastle eight years later. Shortly after, on December 4, 
1628, the Barony of Ogle was revived in favor of his mother 
(Lady Jane Ogle, her sister and joint heir, had died several 
years before), and on her death in 1629 it descended to her 
heirs general.^ This shows why Newcastle chose to have his 
new Barony of Bolsover created by the royal patent, and how 
he comes to be styled Baron of Ogle in right of his mother ; 
for it seems that he waived all right to the latter Barony by his 
first creation, that he might take it by descent as an old Barony 
in fee, together with the family estate of Ogle.^ The title. Baron 
Ogle of Bothal, which has sometimes figured in connection 
with that of Viscount Mansfield, does not seem to rest on a 
sufficiently secure basis, but may be due to a confusion of two 
later baronies.^ There is a tail to the Viscount kite however. 
Witness a state letter from John Woodford to Sir Francis 
Nethersole on November 7, 1620:* 

The parliament is now resolved ... for the accomodating of your 
disputes between the heyrs of the late Earl of Shrewsbury and Sir 
William Cavendish, a nephew of the Earl of Devonshire who hath 
been intitled to some of those lands by the Countess of Shrewsbury, 

^ Collins's Historical Collections, p. 24, and Welbeck Mss., II, 120. 

2 Biographia Britannica, article on William Cavendish. 

8 Cokayne's Complete Peerage, VI, 22, note a, says: "The creation of this 
Barony is given in ' Courthope,' and almost all other peerage writers [including 
Banks's Dormaitt and Extinct Baronage of England, III, 547] but the Viscounty 
of Mansfield is given (as the sole creation) in the 'Creations 1483-1646' in 
the ap. 47th Rep. D. K. Pub. [p. 105]. Neither is the Barony mentioned in 
his M[onumental] inscription], where all his titles seem fully set out." Collins 
also gives the " Ogle of Bothal " title, p. 25. 

* State Papers {Foreign: Germany, States), XIX, 189, in The First Duke and 
Duchess of Newcastle-iipon-Tyne, 1910, p. 12. The author's name is not given on 
the title-page, but this book is by T. Longueville. It is a comprehensive but 
unscholarly memoir and the only secondary work of which the entire bulk is 
devoted to William and Margaret Cavendish. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CA VENDISHE 1 3 

prisoner in the tower, as an expedient to create the said Sir William, 
at the request of the heyres above mentioned, Viscount of Mansfield, 
which is newly done by patent. 

As a pendant to this bargain may be added an extract from a 
letter of the new Viscount Mansfield to Buckingham. It is 
dated February 27, 1626-1627 : ^ 

May it please your Grace, 

Accordinge to your LoP commands I have treated with my cosen 
Pierepont, and as effectually as I coulde, his answer in his own wordes 
are these: he sayeth that Doctor Moore treated with him in King 
James his times about Honor and tolde him that if he woulde be a 
Baron he might and for 4000^ .... For my parte I never herde 
that a Baron was under 9 or 10,000^, but for my one experience, I 
had little more than in the quittinge of an olde debt. 

Apparently traffic in peerages was well understood in that day, 
and if Cavendish did not in cold blood put his money down on 
the table, there was " value received " for his honors in the 
cancelling of old claims or obligations. 

The Duchess, unconscious of this political chicanery, goes on 
to mention her husband's appointment as Lord Lieutenant of 
Derbyshire, a post which he kept during the minority of "the now 
Earl of Devonshire." She expatiates on his abilities in this office 
and also as Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire ^ and then comes 
quickly down to 1628, the year in which he was created Earl of 
Newcastle by Charles L^ At this time he was made Baron 
Cavendish of Bolsover and, as his wife claims, also of Bothal 

1 State Papers {^Domestic), Charles I, LV, No. 26, in First Duke and Duchess, 
pp. 13-14. There is no reason to suppose Buckingham was jealous of Newcastle, 
and Lodge's statement to that effect {Portraits, ed. 1850, VI, 2), may be due 
to a confusion between the elder Buckingham and his son. Cavendish's rela- 
tions with the second George Villiers will be discussed in another place. 

^ For details about this period see Hist. Mss. Com?n., 12 Rep., App., Part I, 
PP- 303' 32S) and especially pp. 443-445 concerning the punishment of a 
criminal and Newcastle's gifts to the surviving relatives. 

* "His arms were S, three Buck's Heads caboshed, Arg. attired O. A cres- 
cent for difference." — Banks, III, 547. 



14 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

and Heple.^ These latter titles have not been satisfactorily 
authenticated, but her mere statement, being so nearly contem- 
porary, ought to decide the matter ; besides, to any but an 
extreme hero-worshipper great subsequent honors might easily 
cause the less to be forgotten. 

Now " in the year 1638, his Majesty called him up to Court, 
and thought him the fittest person whom he might intrust with 
the government of his son Charles, then Prince of Wales, now 
our most gracious King, and made him withal a member of the 
Lords of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council," Thus 
the Duchess, but again there is a seamy side to her story. This 
appointment seems to have been the result of five and a half 
years of deliberate scheming on Cavendish's part. We first find 
the matter mentioned in a letter from Francis, Lord Cottington 
to Newcastle, dated December 13, 1632 -.^ 

The King is now well though he still keeps his chamber, and my 
Lord Deputy [i.e. Strafford] is precisely sent for, so that you will have 
one friend more here. You are appointed to attend the King into 
Scotland which I conceive might be a good motive for your friends 
to put it to a period. 

In accordance with this suggestion, when the royal visit to 
Welbeck occurred in May, 1633, Newcastle made a sumptuous 
feast, which reached its climax in a masque written for the occa- 
sion by Ben Jonson, and which cost, according to the frequently 
exaggerative Duchess, upwards of four thousand pounds.^ He 

^ Cokayne, VI, 22, has this note in connection with his Marquessate : 
" Also according to Doyle's ' Official Baronage,' Baron Bertram and Bolsover 
and, according to Beatson's ' Political Index,' Baron of Bothal and Hepple. 
Heylin asserts that he was a Baron of Bertram together with the Marquessate 
of Newcastle. No mention, however, is made of any of these Baronies in the 
' Creations 1 483-1 646,' tho' in his Garter plate his Baronial titles are given as 
•Ogle, Bertrum and Bolsover.'" ^ i^r^n^eck Mss., II, 122-123. 

3 Sir Edmond Moundeford writes on June 25, 1633: "Our King is well, 
his entertainment great at his journey ; the Lord of Newcastle most famous 
for his meat, the Bishop of York most famous for his drink." — Hist. Mss. 
Comm., 10 Rep., App., Part II, p. 143. 



■Q 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CA VENDISHE 1 5 

also attended Charles on his Scottish journey, and of that, with 
many other important things, we hear in a letter written to 
Strafford, the Lord Deputy of Ireland:^ 

Welbeck, the 5th of August, 1633. 
My most honoured Lord, 

I heartily congratulate your Lordship's safe arrival in Ireland, next 
I am to beg your pardon for not presenting my service to you by letter 
all this while ; but in good faith, my Lord the reason was, I daily heard 
you were going. I give your Lordship humble thanks for your noble 
and kind counsel ; the truth is, my Lord, I have waited of the King 
the Scottish journey both diligently, and, as Sir Robert Swift said of 
my Lord of Carlisle, it was of no small charge unto me. I cannot find 
by the King but he seemed to be pleased with me very well, and never 
used me better or more graciously ; the truth is, I have hurt my estate 
much with the hopes of it, and I have been put in hope long, and so 
long as I will labour no more in it, but let nature work and expect the 
issue at Welbeck ; for I would be loth to be sick in mind, body and 
purse, and when it is too late to repent, and my reward laughed at for 
my labour. It is better to give over in time with some loss than lose 
all, and mend what is to come, seeing what is past is not in my power 
to help. Besides, my Lord, if I obtained what I desire, it would be a 
more painful life, and since I am so much plunged in debt, it would 
help very well to undo me, for I know not how to get, neither know 
I any reason why the King should give me anything. Children come 
on apace, my Lord, and with this weight of debt that lies upon me, 
I know no diet better than a strict diet in the country, which, in time, 
may recover me of the prodigal disease. By your favour, my Lord, I 
cannot say I have recovered myself at Welbeck this summer, but run 
much more in debt than ever I did, but I hope hereafter I may. The 
truth is, my Lord, for my court business, your Lordship with your 
noble friends and mine have spoken so often to the King, and myself 
refreshed his memory in that particular, so that I mean not to move 
my friends, any more to their so great trouble, but whatsoever pleases 
his Majesty, be fully contented, and look after some other little con- 
tentment within myself, which shall well serve me during my life, and 
if the King command me, I am at all times ready to serve him ; if no 

1 Strafford's Letters, I, loi. A previous letter of Newcastle's to Wentworth 
(I, 43) evidently refers to the writer's altercation with Lord Savile. See also 
Calendar of State Pape7-s {^Domestic), idsS-idzg, p. i86. 



I6 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

commands, pray for him heartily. For, by my troth, my Lord, I know 
no man in the whole world more bound unto his Majesty than myself. 
For that point to try your Lordship's friends in my behalf, I humbly 
thank you for the motion, and I desire your Lordship to follow it. 
For the King's particular liking of my proper person, I think my Lord 
of Carlisle would do best, or what doth your Lordship think to his 
Lady, for further I would not willingly have it go ; but I assure your 
Lordship I am most confident of the King's good opinion of me ; and 
about my Lord Savile's business and mine, his Majesty pleased me 
extremely, being never moved by me or any friend in my behalf that 
I desired. My Lord Treasurer used me extreme well and extraordinary 
kindly ; my Lord of Carlisle for your Lordship's sake, but the greatest 
news is my Lord of Holland courted me extremely ; and so to conclude 
with this business, I intend to be quiet and not press the King at all, 
but to leave his Majesty to his own time, and rest quietly here in the 
country ; and this I assure your Lordship is my resolution and my full 
intention, and except it be to the purpose, their greatest friendship 
is to let me rest here. I humbly thank your Lordship for your noble 
favours to my old servant ; for my groom, my Lord, I beseech you 
keep him, and I am sorry your Lordship will use such ceremony with 
me. For La Roche, I always told your Lordship my opinion of him, 
and in good faith, he is no such horseman, neither for anything I ever 
saw, but got a great reputation with doing little : I would your Lord- 
ship had taken Porter, but I know not how he is disposed of. I assure 
your Lordship that horse you pleased to accept, I thought him the 
fittest horse in the world for that purpose, but your Lordship doth not 
write how you approve of him. My Lord, in a word, I desire no man's 
favour and love more than yours, or would be more beholding to any 
man sooner ; for I protest to God, I honour and love you heartily, and 
I vow without any end or particular in the whole world ; your Lord- 
ship's favours to me are merely your own goodness for I shall never 
be useful to you in any kind, which makes my obligation, such that I 
must ever be faithfully. 

Your Lordship's most humble servant, 

W. Newcastle 

This letter is extremely interesting as showing the alternate 
waves of hope and depression so characteristic of the office- 
seeker : now, he will strain every nerve to the utmost ; again, 
the cost seems far greater than the end desired. Newcastle 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE ly 

finally succeeded in his aim, but the affair was to cause him 
much more anxiety before it was terminated. On July 19, 1634, 
Strafford wrote Newcastle from Dublin : ^ 

I have not got word from my Lord of Carlisle concerning your 
Lordship, which certainly comes from no other cause than the uni- 
versal negligence, which possesseth him in all his own affairs and in 
all other things, but in doing civilities and courtesies to his friends, but 
I have given my brother charge to renew it unto him very effectually 
and this being of the King's at your house, I see will be a very fit time 
to get from him his judgment. But upon the whole matter my opinion 
is, that attending upon the King two or three days' journey, after his 
going from Welbeck, you should yourself gently renew the motion to 
the King, as one resolved to take it only as a personal obligation from 
himself alone; and therefore if his Majesty should be inclined to 
grant you that desire, which ariseth merely from a singleness of affec- 
tion, you should receive it and value it, as the highest honour you can 
have in this world to be always near him. On the other side, if in his 
wisdom he should not conceive it fit, you should wholly acquiesce in 
his good pleasure, and beseech him to reckon of you as a servant of 
his, ready to lay down your life, wherever he should be pleased to 
require it of you ; and be sure to express it plainly, that if he in his 
grace toward you shall think good to take you so near him it shall be 
your greatest comfort ; but to have it by any other means or interpo- 
sition, which might expect any of the obligation from his Majesty, it 
would in no degree be so acceptable unto you, that covet it not for 
any private bettering of your fortune, but merely as a mark of his 
respect and estimation of you, and that you might have the happiness to 
spend your life near that person which you did not only reverence as 
your sovereign, but infinitely love and admire for his piety and wisdom. 

This second visit of the King to Welbeck occurred on July 
30, 1634.2 According to the Duchess, Charles was so pleased 

^ StrafforcTs Letters, 1,274. Other epistles from Strafford to Newcastle may 
be found in the Letters, I, 410, and II, 256, 281. Also in Ellis's Original Letters, 
Series II, Vol. Ill, pp. 281-286. 

2 See a letter from Sir John Coke to Newcastle under this date, urging 
him to scatter a multitude of miners assembled at Welbeck to present 
Charles with a mutinous petition, " that their Majesties may peaceably enjoy 
the honour you intend them without distraction or trouble." — Lfist. AIss. 
Comm., 12 Rep., App., Part II, p. 60. 



1 8 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

with his previous entertainment that he asked Newcastle to 
repeat it for Henrietta Maria, who was making a northern 
progress. The King was to be with her, and Cavendish, in the 
midst of court intrigues, naturally wished to put his best foot 
foremost. He and his wife resigned Welbeck to the sovereigns 
and moved to their other estate five miles distant, at Bolsover 
in Derbyshire. Here a feast was held. The country gentry came 
to wait on their Majesties, and Ben Jonson wrote another masque 
for this occasion, Love s Welcome, the Kings mid Queen s enter- 
taimnent at Bolsover. This magnificence was doubtless very 
pleasing to Charles, but it did not accomplish Newcastle's 
purpose at once and plunged him into the further expense of 
;^ 1 4,000 or ;!^ 1 5,000. Nevertheless he did not give up his 
design, for two years later we find him writing to his wife of his 
varying success at court.^ On April 8 he feels that the King 
is favorable despite contrary intrigues ; a week later he names 
various other applicants, who he expects will be unsuccessful ; 
but by May 23 we read, " I am very weary and mean to come 
down presently. I was yesterday with the ' B.B.' ^ and for 
anything I find it is a lost business." 

Persistency was successful, however, and on March 19, 1637- 
1638, Secretary Windebank wrote him of his official appointment 
to the long-coveted post of tutor to Prince Charles. Strafford's 
suggestions had been only too well followed, and, in accordance 
with his letter to Newcastle already quoted, Windebank added 
to the more formal announcement this statement : ^ 

His Majesty hath expressly commended me to let your Lordship 
know, that you have no particular obligation to any whatsoever in this 
business, but merely and entirely to the King's and Queen's Majesties 
alone : who of their own mere and special grace and goodness have 
made this choice, and vouchsafed you this honour. 

1 Welbeck Mss., II, 127. 

2 An abbreviation for " Bishop." 
8 Clarendon State Papers, II, 7-8. 



■"t^ 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 19 

Newcastle's reply was conventional enough, but Strafford's let- 
ter of congratulation to him demands consideration. It is of 
June I and runs : ^ 

My very good Lord, 

May all honour and joy crown your Lordship's leaving, as the taking 
upon you this new employment : and certainly a mighty mark of his 
Majesty's estimation of you, that intrusts you with the keeping of so 
precious a jewel, indeed the dearest pledge of all which can be desired 
or hoped, by King or people. . . . 

My Lord, I right well know your own wisdom sufficient to direct 
your course in the new world you are to come into, yet I trust the 
excess of my affection may be well interpreted. Your Lordship hath 
this charge put upon you immediately by the King, so (as it may be 
thought) careful, you should so understand it, as to be jealous your 
Lordship should have the least apprehension any other creature had 
any share with him or you in this business. Good my Lord consider 
seriously what might be the true English of this, in my opinion it is 
certainly and easily understood, the reading of it very plain. As his 
Majesty thus shews your obligation to be only his, consequently in- 
structs you, that as well in justice, as discretion, your acknowledg- 
ment ought not to divide into several streams, but intirely pour forth 
themselves before him and to him. 

Evidently the Deputy was anxious to have it thought this 
appointment was spontaneous on Charles's part, which must 
have pleased Newcastle tremendously, and by the advice given 
the new tutor to abstain from court politics Strafford assured 
his sovereign of at least one loyal, unselfish retainer. So by 
a slight but diplomatic perversion of the truth, this matter was 
at length settled to the satisfaction of all concerned. 

The only information which we have as to Cavendish's 
actual experiences with his pupil is contained in three contem- 
porary letters.2 The eight-year-old Prince^ evidently refused 

1 Strafford's Letters, II, 174. 

2 Facsimiles of the first two are given in Airy's Charles II, 1901, fac- 
ing p. 8. 

8 Strickland's Lives of the Queens of England, 1851, V, 265. 



20 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

to take his prescribed medicine, and Henrietta Maria sent him 
a reprimand : 

Charles I am sore that I must begin my first letter with chiding you 

because I heere that you will not take phisike I hope it was onlei for 

this day and that to morrow you will doe it for if you will not I must 

come to you : and make you take it for it is for your healthe. I have 

given order to my lord newcastell to send mi worde tonight whether 

you will or will not therfore I hope you will not give mi the paines to 

goe and so I rest your affectionate mother 

^ , Henrietta Marie R. 

To my deare 

sone the prince. 

Later Charles addressed his governor, who was then sick, and 
humorously touched on the question of medicine again. This 
letter, written in a round hand, between double-ruled lines, 
shows real affection and no little wit on the Prince's part : 

My Lord, 

I would not have you take too much Phisick: for it doth allwaies 
make me worse, & I think it will do the like with you I ride every 
day ; and am ready to follow any other directions from you. Make 
hast to returne to him that loues you. Charles P. 

One other note from the Prince to his tutor survives : ^ 

My Lord 

I thank you for your New Years guift ; I am very well pleased 
with it, especially with the brass Statues. On Munday by three of the 
clock I shall be glad to meete you at Lambeth. Charles 

During Newcastle's tutorship occurred an event about which 
we may safely follow the Duchess, as she is backed up by 
Clarendon and Rushworth.^ At the time of the insurrection in 
Scotland, Newcastle lent his monarch ^ 10,000 and furnished 
a volunteer troop of horse, which his popularity in the north 

^ Ellis, Original Letters, Series I, Vol. Ill, p. 287. 

2 Clarendon's History of the Rebellion, Book III, § 23, and Rushworth's 
Collections, II, ii, 929-930 and 946. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 21 

country enabled him to raise. ^ It was known as Prince Charles's 
troop, and when, during a march over the Scottish border, the 
Earl of Holland put this company in the rear, Newcastle 
ordered his Prince's colors lowered, rather than have them 
so subordinated.^ King Charles apparently learned that the 
cause of this occurrence was Holland's jealousy, for he com- 
mended Newcastle, shortly after made him a member of the 
Privy Council, and ordered that the troop should be commanded 
by no one but himself. Thereafter a duel was to be fought 
between these two Earls, but Holland did not appear at the 
rendezvous, Charles learned of what had happened, and peace 
was restored.^ The Duchess does not mention her Lord's oppo- 
nent by name, in accordance with her husband's instructions* 
not to particularize about his enemies, and it was probably for 
this same reason that the bracketed words in the following 
sentence were carefully inked out before publication : 

Thus they (the troop) remained upon duty, [without receiving any 
payment or allowance from his Majesty,] until his Majesty had reduced 
his rebellious subjects, and then my Lord returned with honour to his 
charge, viz. the government of the Prince. 

His position was not to continue for long, however. In 
1 64 1, when Newcastle learned that the Parliament, now in 
complete control of affairs, had resolved to displace him, he fore- 
stalled them by voluntarily resigning. Our authoress does not 
probe further into the causes, but they seem to lie in the fact 
that the so-called " Army Plot " had been discovered. The 
responsibility for this plan to bring the army south, that it 
might support Charles by overawing Parliament, rested chiefly 

1 Mrs. Hutchinson's Memoirs, I, 163-164. 

2 See Hist. Mss. Comm., 12 Rep., App., Part V, I, 512, 517. 

' See also Hist. Mss. Comm., 12 Rep., App., Part II, p. 240, and RIemoirs of 
the Vemey Family, I, 322. 

* "The Preface," Firth, p. xliii. 



22 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

upon Suckling and Jermyn ^ ; and as Strafford was now in the 
tower and Northumberland still invalided, the conspirators set- 
tled upon Newcastle as commander. When these facts became 
known to Parliament, it was impossible that Prince Charles 
should remain longer in his governor's hands, and the inevi- 
table result followed .2 Newcastle retired to the country, perhaps 
not altogether unwillingly, for during his three years of office 
he had run ^40,000 in debt.^ 

Yet he was to get only a few months' leisure before the 
King had more work for him to do.^ Early in January, 1642, 
Charles wrote Newcastle bidding him hasten to Hull and take 
command there. A commission had previously been given him 
in expectation of future trouble, because in that town were 
assembled all the ammunition and supplies for a Scotch cam- 
paign. Newcastle arrived on January 14 and had himself pro- 
claimed as Governor, but when Parliamentary troops headed 
by Hotham and a Royalist force under Legg appeared before 
the walls of Hull, the mayor refused admittance to both. 
Within three days the House of Peers sent for Newcastle to 
appear before them,^ and the vacillating Charles ordered him 
to obey. Cavendish was cleared as acting under royal com- 
mission, but Hull with its precious contents was irretrievably 
lost to Charles. 

Not long after, matters became so desperate that the Queen 
was forced to flee the country, while her husband repaired to 
York. Thither Newcastle was summoned and put in charge 

i"Mr. Jermaine named my Lord of Newcastle." — Welbeck Mss., I, 12, 
and also 20, 22. 

2 S. R. Gardiner's History of England, 1603-1642, IX, 313 ; Firth, p. 8, n. 

3 Firth, p. 6, n., quotes a letter in the record office by Thomas Wiseman. 

* The King seems to have been on very close terms with Newcastle. 
The Duchess states that Charles even created peers at her husband's request 
(Firth, p. loi) and Cavendish certainly exerted what influence he possessed 
(Hist. Mss. Comm., 12 Rep., App., Pait II, pp. 120-121). 

6 Clarendon, Book IV, § 215. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CA VENDISHE 23 

of his titular stronghold, with jurisdiction over the four northern 
counties of Northumberland, Cumberland, Westmoreland, and 
Durham. Almost the first problem that presented itself was 
a mutiny of train-band soldiers in the Bishopric of Durham, 
which demanded his immediate presence ; "where at his arrival," 
says the Duchess, " (I mention it by the way, and as a merry 
passage) a jovial fellow used this expression, that he liked my 
Lord very well, but not his company (meaning his soldiers)." 
This uprising was quickly subdued, with the result that most 
stringent rules were enforced as to church government there ; 
Dr. Cosin, Dean of Peterborough, was to censor all sermons 
and see that they were leavened with good Royalist sentiment. 
At about this time ^ 500, with a consignment of arms under 
the escort of Davenant and Cook,^ was received from her 
Majesty in Holland, while a shipload of ammunition and 
weapons came from the King of Denmark. Thus encour- 
aged, Newcastle resolved to raise an army. Charles approved, 
of course, as it would mean no personal inconvenience for 
himself, and sent the Earl a commission as general, with 
power to confer knighthood or coin money. A regiment of 
foot and a troop of horse had already been raised,^ but Charles 
saw fit to detain the latter when it escorted Henrietta Maria's 
ammunition to him. Newcastle's popularity and family con- 
nections in the north ^ now enabled him to get together an 
army of 8000 horse, foot, and dragoons, which was later 
enlarged to 100,000 men, according to an almost incredible 

1 Letters of Henrietta Maria, ed. Green, p. 121. 

2 In Book III (Firth, p. 90) the Duchess says that Charles appropriated 
both regiment and troop. 

^ Compare Mrs. Hutchinson, I, 164: "He had, indeed, through his great 
estate, his liberal hospitahty, and constant residence in his country, so en- 
deared them to him that no man was a greater prince in all that northern 
quarter ; till a foolish ambition of glorious slavery carried him to court, where 
he ran himself much into debt, to purchase neglects of the king and queen 
and scorns of the proud courtiers." 



24 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

statement by the Duchess. Among the number were 3000 
that the general had chosen for his own regiment. "They 
were called White-coats, for this following reason : my Lord 
being resolved to give them new liveries, and there being not 
red cloth enough to be had, took up so much of white, as 
would serve to clothe them, desiring withal, their patience 
until he had got it dyed ; but they, impatient of stay, requested 
my Lord, that he would be pleased to let them have it undyed 
as it was, promising they themselves would dye it in the 
enemy's blood. Which request my Lord granted them, and 
from that time they were called White-coats,"^ or sometimes 
" Newcastle's Lambs." 

No sooner was this high-spirited force organized than there 
came to its general a plea from the Yorkshire Royalists that 
he would come to their assistance. Lord Fairfax and his 
untrained Parliamentary troops had driven Charles's supporters 
into the town of York, where they laid siege to that meagrely 
defended stronghold. After negotiations which lasted through 
September and October, 1642,2 Newcastle decided to grant 
their request, publishing first a declaration "for his resolution 
of marching into Yorkshire, as also a just vindication of him- 
self from that unjust aspersion laid upon him for entertaining 
some Popish recusants in his service." As a matter of fact 
he pleads guilty to the latter offense, but with eminent success 
defends himself for committing it.^ His march to York was 
repeatedly interrupted by the enemy, most notably at Pierce- 
bridge on December i, but nevertheless it was accomplished 
in an unusually short time. " It cannot be denied," says 
Clarendon, "that the Earl of Newcastle, by his quick march 
with his troops, as soon as he had received his commission 

1 Firth, p. 84. 2 Letters reprinted by Firth, pp. 188-191. 

8 Rushworth, III, ii, 78-81. Charles had instructed him to employ Catholics 
(Ellis's Original Letters, Series I, Vol. Ill, p. 291). 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 25 

to be general and in the depth of winter, redeemed or rescued 
the city of York from the rebels, when they looked upon it 
as their own, and had it even within their grasp." ^ Once 
arrived, he had a tax levied to support his army, rather than 
that the soldiers should forage for their own supplies, which 
was stringently forbidden. 

It was winter and Newcastle might well have stayed within 
the walls of York, but he hastened out to attack the enemy at 
Tadcaster, although a little more deliberation would have made 
for greater efficiency in the end. As events turned out, it 
took three separate expeditions to subjugate the West Riding, 
notwithstanding that his forces were greatly superior to those 
of Parliament. The Duchess, of course, is so completely blind 
to any deficiency of her Lord's that she can only admire his 
activity and daring. Indeed, the first mishap was due to no 
fault of his. Tadcaster stood on the west bank of a river, 
accessible from York only by a stone bridge, which Fairfax 
had broken down and afterwards fortified. Since this position 
was exceedingly difficult to attack, Newcastle planned a simul- 
taneous movement from two sides of the town. He himself 
led the foot from the east, but the Lieutenant-General who 
was to appear on the west with the horse failed to arrive at 
his appointed hour. In Drake's Eboractim^ it is stated that 
this delinquent was the Earl of Newport. The Duchess, of 
course, does not mention his name, but clearly says that it was 
the "then Lieutenant-General of the army" and in another 
passage assigns that office to "first Earl of Newport, afterwards 
the Lord Eythin." Lord Ethyn, better known as General King, 
was appointed to the position sometime in January, partly as 
a result of this error on Newport's part.^ A curious mistake 

1 Clarendon, Book VIII, § 84. 2 j, 193. 

3 See Ellis's Original Letters, Series I, Vol. Ill, pp. 295-296, and Firth, 
p. 18, n. I. 



26 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

has been recently made^ in identifying this "Lieutenant- 
General " with Lord Goring, General of the Horse, and a 
pretty moral pointed as to having intemperate and jealous 
officers in any army. Newcastle's subordinates were unwisely 
appointed no doubt,^ but Goring must be acquitted of this par- 
ticular blunder. The real reason for it is even more obscure, 
although difficulties in Newport's march ^ and a letter forged 
by the enemy* make concrete our authoress's charges of " neg- 
lect or treachery," Surprisingly enough, however, Newcastle's 
single attack coupled with a shortage of ammunition ^ (this lat- 
ter extenuating circumstance is not mentioned by our historian) 
caused the rebels to evacuate Tadcaster. " My Lord " entered 
the town and garrisoned it, thence moving on to Pomfret, 
where he repeated this performance. 

During his stay at Pomfret an important episode occurred 
very detrimental to Royalist hopes and significantly not men- 
tioned in the Life^ Sir William Saville was sent to capture cer- 
tain manufacturing towns in the West Riding, of which Leeds 
and Wakefield soon submitted. At Bradford, however, he was 
severely repulsed, and a few days later Sir Thomas Fairfax 
took charge of the local forces, Leeds was recaptured, and 
about five hundred prisoners were taken. Meantime Newark 
in Nottinghamshire had been garrisoned, and on January 27, 
1 64 2- 1 64 3, Newcastle returned to York to obtain some ammu- 
nition which he had had sent from the north. Its dilatory 
arrival cannot offset General King's splendid defense of the 
convoy when it was attacked at Yarum Bridge, 

1 First Duke and Duchess, p. 80. 

2 Henrietta Maria had a hand in the appointments of both King and 
Goring. See Clarendon, Book VI, § 264, and Letters of Henrietta Maria, 
pp. 149-150- 

8 Sir Henry Slingsby's Diary, ed. 1836, p. 86. 

* Drake's Eboranim, I, 193. 

^ Letter of Lord F'airfax, December 10, 1642, in Rushworth, III, ii, 92. 

^ Firth, p. 17. n. Cf. Catalogue of the Thomasoft Tracts, I, 208, 213. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 2/ 

On February 22 Henrietta Maria ^ landed at Burlington in 
the East Riding. All accounts agree as to the difficulties 
attendant on her arrival and as to a subsequent bombardment 
of the house where she lodged. Newcastle had marched down 
to meet his Queen, and afterwards he escorted her safely back 
to York. She " graciously accepted " ^^3000 sterling from 
him, but the arms she had brought she sent on to Charles, 
who in true Stuart fashion " was pleased to keep with him 
for his own service" their guard of 1500 men. The Queen's 
arrival aided Newcastle in winning over Sir Hugh Cholmley, 
Governor of Scarborough Castle, and thus gaining that strong- 
hold by peaceful means.'^ The Duchess, as we might expect, 
credits her husband with this entire exploit, nor does she 
mention his subsequent failure to enlist the Hothams on 
Charles's side.^ These negotiations, which began in March of 
this same year, accomplished nothing for the King but resulted 
in the ultimate execution of those unfortunate officers as 
traitors to Parliament. 

A second expedition from York was begun in March, 1642- 
1643, when Lord Goring was sent with some horsemen to 
intercept the enemy's march. He met them on Seacroft Moor 
and there, according to all accounts, effected a complete rout. 
Newcastle then ordered out another party, which had like 
success at Tankerly Moor, and finally took the field himself 
with his main army. He passed by Leeds to besiege Wake- 
field, which soon capitulated. While his troops were still 
surrounding this town, their commander left them for some 
days to treat with Hotham and to bury his first wife, who had 

^ She had planned to come before, but Newcastle dissuaded her until the 
situation grew somewhat better. See Letters of Henrietta Maria, p. 145. 

2 Gardiner's History of the Great Civil War, I, 122. 

' For an elaborate account of these proceedings, see First Duke and 
Duchess, pp. 89-98 ; Welbeck Mss., I, 105-109 ; and Clarendon State Papers, II, 
181-183. 



28 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

died on April 17.^ The recently victorious Goring and Sir 
Francis Mackworth — these names were printed in the margin 
of the Life, but carefully inked out before publication — were 
left in command at Wakefield, while Newcastle went on to 
fresh successes at Rotherham and Sheffield. The former is 
chiefly notable because this town was plundered contrary to 
treaty^ (this, of course, is unmentioned by the Duchess), the 
latter for some iron works near by, which were thenceforward 
employed to cast Royalist cannon. Shortly after came news 
that the Fairfaxes had retaken Wakefield with all its garrison. 
Newcastle was discouraged as well as angry and immediately 
retired to York again. On June 4 the Queen set out for 
Oxford accompanied by an escort, which, as usual, Charles 
kept for his own service. The Duchess, prone to overestimate 
her Lord's losses in the good cause, gives the number as 
7000, but it is unlikely that accurate figures would have 
exceeded 4500 to 5000.^ Her Majesty had difficulty in getting 
even this number, for ' ' notre general et tous les gentilshommes 
du pais sont contre. Cette armee est appelee I'armee de la 
royne, mais j'ay bien petit pouvoir et je vous asseure que, si 
j'en avois, tout iroit mieux qu'il ne va." ^ 

The third expedition to drive the rebels from Yorkshire 
was commenced this same month, when Howley House, a well- 
fortified stone building, was battered down by cannon and 
captured. " The governor, having quarter given him contrary 
to my Lord's orders, was brought before my Lord by a person 
of quality, for which the officer that brought him received a 
check ; and though he resolved then to kill him, yet my Lord 
would not suffer him to do it, saying, it was inhuman to kill 

1 Letters of Henrietta Maria, p. i88 ; and Firth, p. ii6. 

2 Rushworth, III, ii, 268. See Rev. John Shaw, Dedication to his sermon, 
"The Three Kingdoms Case," in Yorkshire Diaries, 1, 136, 385 (Surtees Society). 

3 Letters of Henrietta Maria, p. 222 ; and Firth, p. 23, n. 
* Baillon's Leitres inedites de Henriette-Marie, p. 135. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 29 

any man in cold blood. Thereupon the governor kissed the 
key of the house door, and presented it to my Lord ; to which 
my Lord returned this answer : ' I need it not,' said he, " for 
I brought a key along with me, which yet I was unwilling to 
use, until you forced me to it.' " After this victory Newcastle 
moved on to Bradford, which had previously given him much 
trouble, but on his way met the enemy drawn up on Atherton 
or Adwalton Moor, prepared to give battle. They had so very 
much the advantage of position that for a time success seemed 
to be theirs, until Newcastle rallied his troops and with the aid 
of his own regiment turned defeat into victory. Indeed Adwal- 
ton Moor was the Earl's most brilliant achievement in his 
entire northern campaign. The enemy fled, Bradford was oc- 
cupied, and Lady Fairfax captured, although Newcastle's unfail- 
ing courtesy set her at liberty almost immediately. Secondary 
effects were even greater : Halifax, Leeds, and Wakefield were 
abandoned by the Parliamentarians, who retired to Hull, their 
only remaining stronghold in Yorkshire. After three attempts, 
then, Newcastle had practically cleared the rebels from that 
county and was now prepared to go on to further activities in 
other fields. The Duchess tells us that her husband sent a 
letter to the Governor of York bidding him intercept Fairfax's 
retreat towards Hull, but a post's neglect prevented the com- 
plete annihilation of those fugitives. 

Meanwhile, as news had come from Lincolnshire of upris- 
ings there. General King was sent down to adjust matters. 
Before his arrival, however, the King's forces suffered a de- 
feat and their commander was killed, which brought Newcastle 
himself south as well. His first capture was Gainsborough, 
a garrison but recently fallen to the enemxy. The Earl of 
Kingston, its previous commander, was being taken as pris- 
oner to Hull on a pinnace, when some of "' my Lord's " forces 
shot at the pinnace in an effort to stop it and killed Kingston 



30 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

by mistake. Our historian definitely places the blame in re- 
marking that, "by the way," these forces were under com- 
mand of Lord Ethyn ! Another incident connected with this 
capitulation was even more unfortunate. Gainsborough sur- 
rendered upon fair terms, but, for some reason or other, they 
were not carried out. The Duchess, always ready to explain 
away anything disagreeable, states that some prisoners in the 
town first began to plunder, after which the besieging forces 
joined in, " although it was against my Lord's will and orders." 
After having garrisoned Gainsborough, Newcastle also occupied 
and garrisoned Lincoln " with intention to march towards the 
south, which if it had taken effect, would doubtless have made 
an end of that war." 

But this plan did not take effect, and its failure was the 
turning point in Newcastle's military career. His motives for 
return are so mixed as to defy analysis. The Duchess, we may 
be sure, sets forth only defensible ones, chiefly a persistent 
demand from Yorkshire that he come back to drive the disturb- 
ing enemy out of Hull.^ On the other hand we have evidence 
that Newcastle did not care to go south, where he must subject 
himself to a superior. Charles had repeatedly desired his pres- 
ence ; witness Sir Philip Warwick's mission to the north for 
this very purpose early in that summer. " But I found him 
very averse to this, and perceived that he apprehended nothing 
more than to be joined to the king's army, or to serve under 
Prince Rupert ; for he designed himself to be the man that 
should turn the scale, and to be a self-subsisting and distinct 
army wherever he was."^ That there was reason for Caven- 
dish's fearing slights in the south is evidenced by letters he had 
received from Captain John Hotham in the previous April : ^ 

1 This was undoubtedly correct, for it is corroborated by Sir Henry Slingsby 
in his Diary, p. 99. ^ Sir Philip Warwick's Memoirs, 1813, p. 268. 

3 Welbeck Mss., I, 701. No doubt this caused Charles's reprimand to New- 
castle at that time, of which we hear in the Queen's Letters, pp. 181, 191-193. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 31 

But now to give you a taste that all is not as you think at Court, I 
shall freely tell you this, that within this four days some very near 
her Majesty spoke such words of contempt and disgrace of you as 
truly for my part I could not hear them repeated with patience, and 
you will plainly see, if they dare it, you will have a successor. . . . The 
words were these : " that you were a sweet General, lay in bed until 
eleven o'clock and combed till twelve, then came to the Queen, and 
so the work was done, and that General King did all the business." 
They were spoken by my Lady Comwallis in the hearing of Mr. Port- 
ington, a fellow cunning enough ; and this to my father and another 
gentleman with many words of undervaluing, which he said were 
spoken by others. 

Letters from Henrietta Maria to Newcastle on June 18 and 
August 13 1 show persistent demands on Charles's part for 
Newcastle's presence, demands which the Queen herself op- 
posed. "The truth is that they envy your army," she writes 
under the latter date. So it may be seen that there were 
undoubtedly personal reasons why Newcastle preferred to stay 
in Yorkshire. Nevertheless when he had achieved the great 
victory of Adwalton Moor and fate had brought him into 
Lincolnshire, his loyalty perhaps asserted itself, so that he had 
every intention of continuing to the south. ^ Then came the 
summons from Yorkshire to return, and Newcastle could con- 
scientiously send word to Charles, "that it was impossible for 
him to comply with his commands in marching with his army 
into the associated counties, for that the gentlemen of the 
country, who had the best regiments, and were amongst the 
best officers, utterly refused to march, except Hull were first 
taken ; and that he had not strength enough to march and 



1 Letters, pp. 219, 225. 

^ The King " showed us letters from the Earl of Newcastle, wherein he 
offered to join his Majesty with a detachment of 4000 horse and 8000 foot, 
if his Majesty thought fit to march southward, and yet leave forces sufficient 
to guard the north from any invasion." — Defoe's Meinoirs of a Cavalier. 
George D. Sproul, New York, 1903, p. 228. 



32 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

to leave Hull securely blocked up." ^ This explanation was 
deemed sufficient by S. R, Gardiner,^ but we must agree with 
Professor Firth ^ that Newcastle's withdrawal had in it some- 
thing of il gran rifinto. 

Whatever the cause, in August, 1643, he marched back to 
the north, his good fortune ended. After capturing the small 
town of Beverley, he invested Hull by request of the York- 
shire gentry. They promised to send ten thousand men for 
that purpose, but no more was heard of them, although we 
■ may be sure the Duchess chronicles this disappointment. 
Sir Philip Warwick,^ who had been dispatched north again 
at this time, states that General King was supposed to have 
advised the siege. Warwick goes on to relate an episode that 
throws a good deal of light on the commanding general and 
his way of waging war : 

I went down to see his trenches and works, and found (the season 
having been very wet) his men standing ancle deep in dirt, a great 
distance from the town ; so, as I conceived, those without were Ukelier 
to rot than those within to starve ; and by assault there was not the 
least probability to carry it. Upon my return to him, relating but 
faintly and modestly my thought, (for he knew I had not the least 
part of a soldier to warrant a discourse upon that subject) he merrily 
put it off, saying, " You often hear us called the Popish Army ; but 
you see we trust not in our good works." 

This siege began on September 2, but it was raised on 
October 11,^ which latter event the Life attributes to the 
Royalist defeat at Winceby or Horncastle in Lincolnshire. 
The contributory cause, nearer home, was a successful sally 
made by the Hull garrison, in which many of Newcastle's 

1 Clarendon, Book VII, § 177. This message must have been sent before 
the siege of Hull, despite Clarendon's assertion, which has been a source of 
further error in Fi7-st Duke and Duchess. 

2 English Historical Review, 1887, pp. 172-173 ; and History, I, 229. 

3 " Editor's Preface " prefixed to the Life, p. xi. 

* Memoirs, pp. 294-295. ^ Rushworth, III, ii, 280-281. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CA VENDISHE 33 

guns were taken and some of his fortifications destroyed,^ It 
is instructive to contrast our historian's complete suppression 
of this failure with her full account of an earlier sally that 
was brilliantly repelled. At all events the siege was ended ; 
Newcastle returned to York and soon after was elevated by 
Charles to a marquessate.^ 

During November he took the field in Derbyshire on hear- 
ing that the Parliamentarians were stirring there. From his 
headquarters at Chesterfield in that county, a force was sent 
back to York to ensure the Mayor's reelection, for he was 
Newcastle's candidate, but not overpopular in the city. After 
Wingfield Manor, a small hostile garrison, had been taken, 
the general marched on to inspect his family estates at Bol- 
sover and Welbeck. On this occasion he tried to persuade 
Colonel Hutchinson to surrender the garrison of Nottingham, 
but the attempt was unsuccessful and the Duchess ignores it.^ 
Again he was called back to York, however, this time because a 
great army of Scotch were reported to be invading England. 
Warning of this attack had been given several months before 
by the Marquis of Hamilton, but Newcastle then sent to 
Oxford for instructions and refused to break the treaty with 
Scotland by garrisoning Berwick or Carlisle.'* The Duchess 
does not tell us about this but makes much of the Yorkshire- 
men's further false promises and of Cavendish's difficulty in 
raising more troops. Colonel John Bellasis was left in charge 
of York, while the main army marched north to Newcastle, 
where it arrived on February 2, 164 3- 1644. Just one day later 

^ Welbeck Mss., I, 13S. Mrs. Hutchinson says that Cavendish was "forced 
to rise with loss and dishonour from the unyielding town." — Memoirs, I, 333. 

2 " By the Queen's interest, he is now, from Earl, made Marquis, as we 
see." — Carlyle's Cromwell, ed. S. C. Lomas, I, 131. 

3 Mrs. Hutchinson's Memoirs, I, 288-293 and 369-378 (Appendix). 

* Warwick, pp. 296-297 ; and Burnet, Lives of the Hamillons, ed. 1852, 
p. 310, in Firth, p. 33, n. i. 



34 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

the Scotch appeared, 22,000 strong and amazed to find the 
town already occupied. Newcastle's sorties compelled them to 
keep quartered up in the hills, but consequently when the Duke 
wanted a pitched battle he always had a disadvantageous posi- 
tion. This campaign was well conducted, however, in spite 
of trying conditions : the English were far outnumbered ; they 
were comparatively unaccustomed to severe winter weather ; 
and, continues the Duchess, " there was so much treachery,^ 
juggling, and falsehood in my Lord's own army, that it was 
impossible for him to be successful in his designs and under- 
takings." Presently the enemy moved to Sunderland, and 
Newcastle countered to Durham. This time luck was with 
him, for a great snowstorm prevented any interference with the 
manoeuvres .2 His object was to cut off the Scots' supplies by 
his cavalry, and so well did he succeed that sometimes they 
were entirely without meat or drink, while they never had 
more than twenty-four hours' provisions on hand.^ A minor 
incident in this period was the Earl of Montrose's obtaining 
some forces for an expedition into Scotland ; the Duchess says 
he was given two hundred men by her husband, but Wishart ^ 
states they were "ad centum equites, sed equos strigosos et 
male habitos (non imperatoris culpa, sed aliorum invidia)." 

What the outcome of this fencing with the Scotch would 
have been, it is difficult to say, but presently news came of 
a great misfortune in Yorkshire. Bellasis was a man of so 
much more valour than prudence that he had attempted the de- 
fense of Shelby, an untenable town. He was defeated by the 
Fairfaxes, his army routed, and himself taken prisoner. This 
put an entirely different face on the situation farther north, for 

1 King, who was Newcastle's most efficient general, was at this time accused 
of favoring his countrymen, the Scotch. See Warwick, pp. 307-308. 

2 John Willcock's Life of Sir Hemy Vane the Younger, p. 137. 
2 Rushworth, III, ii, 615. 

* De Rebus Auspiciis Caroti, 1647 ed., chap, iii, p. 32. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 35 

now Newcastle was between two hostile armies and safety was 
the first consideration. Consequently, on April 13I he com- 
menced a retreat to York, which was successfully accomplished 
in six days despite the enemy's constant harrying of his rear. 
Next day Fairfax and Leven joined forces to besiege the city, 
being later joined by Manchester with a Rebel army from the 
"associate counties." ^ Newcastle was indeed in a sorry plight 
by this time. For some months past he had been writing the 
King for reinforcements against his rapidly increasing oppo- 
nents, and the intrigues against him, of which we have heard 
something, must have been a constant source of discourage- 
ment. It looks as if he had even threatened to resign, judging 
from a significant royal letter, dated at Oxford, April 5 : ^ 

New Castell 

By your last dispach I perceave that the Scots are not the only, or 
(it may be said) the least ennemies you contest withall at this tyme ; 
wherefore I must tell you in a word (for I have not tyme to make 
longe discourses) you must as much contem the impertinent or malitius 
tonges and pennes of those that ar or professe to be your frends, as 
well as you dispyse the sword of an equall ennemie. The trewth is, 
if eather you, or my L. Ethen * leave my service, I am sure (at least) 
all the Northe (I speake not all I thinke) is lost. Remember all courage 
is not in fyghting ; constancy in a good cause being the cheefe, and 
the dispysing of slanderus tonges and pennes being not the least 
ingredient. I '1 say no more, but, let nothing disharten you from doing 
that which is most for your owen honnor, and good of (the thought 
of leaving your charge, being against booke) 

Your most asseured reall 

constant frend 

Charles R. 

1 April 13, Old Style, bringing the juncture of Fairfax and Leven on the 
20th, O. S. Newcastle's letter after this occurrence (Warburton's Pri?ice 
Rupert, II, 434) is dated April 18, but this is N.S., so that there is no 
real contradiction. ^ Rushworth, III, ii, 615. 

3 Harleian Ms. 6g88, art. 104. Entirely in the King's hand. Reprinted in 
First Duke and Duchess, p. 121. 

* King seems to have felt very deeply the charges of treachery which had 
been brought against him. 



36 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Encouraged by such a personal appeal together with promises 
of present assistance, Newcastle, putting his shoulder to the 
wheel afresh, made ready to defend York, First he ordered 
his cavalry under Sir Charles Lucas to Derbyshire or Notting- 
hamshire, where they might be well quartered and best harass 
the enemy .1 Then having sent renewed dispatches to Charles, 
he instituted a strict surveillance upon provisions. Even with 
this precaution, as months wore on, food and ammunition be- 
gan to fail, until there came grateful news that Prince Rupert 
was marching north to relieve the city. York could not have 
held out much longer apparently, for in early June we find 
Newcastle engaging the enemy in useless negotiations,^ that 
with their quibblings and cross purposes could only have been 
meant to gain much-needed time. On the i6th.^ there occurred 
an episode upon which the Duchess lays considerable emphasis : 
a mine was sprung under St. Mary's Tower, so that numbers 
of besiegers could pour into the Manor Yard. For a moment 
confusion ensued, but my Lord led his White-coats against the 
invaders and repulsed them, killing or capturing 1500. As 
a matter of fact the assault had been prematurely hastened 
because of jealousies among the Parliamentarians,^ while their 
actual loss was not above 300 in all.^ 

At last on July i, when Rupert's forces with Newcastle's 
own cavalry, now under the command of Goring, appeared 
before York, the enemy withdrew precipitously. The town was 
saved, and if well enough had been let alone, it might have 
been possible to recover much lost ground. Prince Rupert, 

1 Clarendon, Book VIII, § 20. 

2 For the documents see Rushworth, III, ii, 624-631. 

3 Gardiner says the 17th, but it was Sunday, the i6th. See Rushworth, III, 
ii, 631; and Drake's Eboracnm, I, 202. 

* Markham's Fairfax, p. 148; and Baillie Letters, II, 195. 
^ Rushworth, III, ii, 631. Slingsby, who was there, estimates the strength 
of this storming party at 500, of whom 200 were captured. See Diary, p. 109. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CA VENDISHE 37 

however, encouraged by King Charles's ambiguous commands, 
wished to pursue the besiegers that he might defeat them in 
a pitched battle ; Newcastle's advice was to wait for reinforce- 
ments from the north or for rumored divisions among the 
rebels. 1 These considerations had been discussed in dis- 
patches ^ on the day of Rupert's arrival and the question came 
up again on the morrow, as is vividly related in some notes of 
Clarendon's on the northern campaign : ^ 

The next morning the Marquis went out of the city to attend the 
Prince, and found him upon his march and the enemy having placed 
themselves upon a hill ; and when the Marquis overtook the Prince 
they both alighted, and after salutations went again to horse, and the 
Prince said " My Lord, I hope we shall have a glorious day." So the 
Earl asked whether he meant to put it to a day, and urged many rea- 
sons against it ; the Prince replied " Nothing venture, nothing have " 
etc. Several persons had that morning reported that the Prince had 
an absolute commission to command those parts, and that the Mar- 
quis's power was at an end. When Major-General King came up 
Prince Rupert showed the Marquis and the Earl a paper, which he 
said was the draught of the battle, as he meant to fight it, and asked 
them what they thought of it. King answered " By God, sir, it is very 
fine in the paper, but there is no such thing in the fields." The Prince 
replied " Not so " etc. The Marquis asked the Prince what he would 
do ? His Highness answered " We will charge them tomorrow morn- 
ing." My Lord asked him, whether he were sure the enemy would not 
fall on them sooner ; he answered, No ; and the Marquis goes to his 
coach hard by, and calling for a pipe of tobacco, before he could take 
it the enemy charged, and instantly all the Prince's horse were routed. 

Thus began the famous battle of Marston Moor,^ by which 
northern England was lost to Charles's forces. The details of 
this fight may concern us no more than they do the Duchess,^ 

1 Sanford's Studies and Illustrations of the Great Rebellion, p. 591. 
^ Rupert and Newcastle did not meet till the morning of the fight. See 
Cholmley's Memorials in English Historical Review, April, 1890, p. 345. 
^ Clarendon State Papers, No. 10S5. Reprinted by Firth, p. 39. 

* Sometimes known as Hessom Moor and so called by the Duchess. 

* A very readable account is given in Defoe's Memoirs of a Cavalier, pp. 252- 
259, where Newcastle is referred to as "that always unfortunate gentleman." 



38 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

for, as we have seen, Newcastle practically resigned his com- 
mand to Rupert and fought that day as a private gentleman. 
"And though several of my Lord's friends advised him not 
to engage in battle, because the command (as they said) was 
taken from him : yet my Lord answered them that happen 
what would, he would not shun to fight, for he had no other 
ambition but to live and die a loyal subject to his Majesty." 
He bore himself valiantly we may be sure, and when he had 
no sword left, killed three men with his page's half-leaden 
one, refusing to deprive any of the other capable fighters. 

His White-coats also distinguished themselves, for they, 
" being veteran soldiers, and accustomed to fight, stood their 
ground, and the fury of that impression of Cromwell, which 
routed the whole army besides ; nor did the danger nor the 
slaughter round them make them cast away their arms or their 
courage ; but seeing themselves destitute of their friends, and 
surrounded by their enemies, they cast themselves into a ring, 
where though quarter was offered them, they gallantly refused 
it, and so manfully behaved themselves, that they slew more of 
the enemy in this particular fight, than they had killed of them 
before. At last they were cut down, not by the sword, but 
showers of bullets, after a long and stout resistance, leaving 
their enemies a sorrowful victory, both in regard of them- 
selves whom they would have spared, as in the regard of the loss 
of the bravest men on their own side, who fell in assaulting 
them. A very inconsiderable number of them were preserved, 
to be the living monuments of that Brigade's loyalty and 
valour." ^ Again, " This sole regiment, after the day was lost, 
having got into a small parcel of ground ditched in, and not 
of easy access of horse, would take no quarter ; and by mere 
valour, for one whole hour, kept the troops of horse from 

1 James Heath's Chronicle of the Civil Wars of England, Scotland and 
Ireland, 1 67 6, p . 6 1 . 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CA VENDISHE 39 

entering amongst them at near push of pike : when the horse 
did enter, they would have no quarter, but fought it out till 
there was not thirty of them living ; those whose hap it was 
to be beaten down upon the ground as the troopers came near 
them, though they could not rise for their wounds, yet were 
so desperate as to get either a pike or sword, or piece of them, 
and to gore the troopers' horses, as they came over them, 
or passed by them. Captain Camby, then a trooper under 
Cromwell, and an actor, who was the third or fourth man that 
entered amongst them, protested he never, in all the fights 
he was in, met with such resolute brave fellows, or whom 
he pitied so much, and said ' he saved two or three against 
their wills.' " 1 

Newcastle stuck to his post till the very end, but when he 
saw that all was lost, rode back to York late at night, with 
his brother and one or two servants. The next day he an- 
nounced to Rupert that his resources were at an end and that 
he intended to leave the kingdom ; "I will not endure the 
laughter of the court" is said^ to have been his valediction, 
a farewell quite in keeping with the character of this Cavalier, 
as we have come to know him. 

The question now arises whether Newcastle was justified 
in fleeing from England. The Duchess, of course, expatiates 
upon his devotion to the King and the very gray prospects 
before him at home. She intimates that Rupert thought there 
was sufficient justification for flight, since the Prince agreed 

^ W^illiam Lilly's History of His Life and Times, ed. 1822, pp. 178-180. 
Lilly also says (pp. 177-178) : "There was some animosity at or before the 
fight betwixt the Earl of Newcastle and Prince Rupert ; for Newcastle being 
General of his Majesty's forces in the north, a person of valour and well 
esteemed in those parts, took it not well to have a competition in his con- 
cernments: for if the victory should fall on his Majesty's side, Prince Rupert's 
forces would attribute it unto their own General, viz. Rupert, and give him 
the glory thereof." 

^ Warburton's Prince Rupert, H, 468. 



40 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

to inform Charles that her husband " had behaved himself 
like an honest man, a gentleman and a loyal subject." That 
he carried out his promise may be inferred from the King's 
subsequent letter, full of gratitude and affection, without a 
single word of criticism : ^ 

Right trusty and entirely beloved Cousin and Councellor Wee greete 
you well. The misfortune of our Forces in the North, wee know is 
ressented as sadly by you as the present hazard of the losse of soe 
considerable a porcion of this our Kingdom deserves : which also 
affects us the more, because in that losse so great a proporcion fals 
upon your self ; whose loyalty and eminent merit we have ever held, 
and shall still, in a very high degree of our royall esteeme. And albeit 
the distracted condition of our Affaires and Kingdom will not afford 
us meanes at this present to comfort you in your sufferings, yet we 
shall ever reteyne soe gracious a memory of your merit, as when it 
shall "please God in mercy to restore us to peace, it shalbe one of 
our principall endeavours to consider how to recompense those that 
have with soe great affection and courage as yourself assisted us in 
the time of our greatest necessity and troubles. And in the mean time 
if there be any thing wherein we may expresse the reality of our good 
intentions to you, or the value we have of your person, we shall most 
readily doe it upon any occasion that shalbe ministred. And soe we 
bid you very heartily farewell. Given at our Court at Oxford the 
28th day of November 1644. 

By his Ma's command 

Edw. Nicholas 

Decidedly a Stuart knew how to reward and how to promise 
as well.2 

On the other hand there is room for grave criticism of 
Newcastle's flight. Since York itself held out for nineteen 
days after both commanders fled, its resources could not have 
been completely exhausted.^ Rupert collected 6000 men and 
joined Montrose at Richmond ; * the Marquis might have gone 

1 Ellis's Original Letters, Series I, Vol. Ill, pp. 303-304. 
- The Queen also wrote to the defeated general with no lack of generosity. 
See Letters of Henrietta Maria, p. 261. 

3 Heath, p. 6i. ^ Warburton, II, 470. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 41 

with them had not his jealousy at being subordinated to a youth 
of twenty-two prevented. The truth is that Newcastle had been 
supreme for so long, that now, when success for the Royal 
cause depended on complete cooperation among all its sup- 
porters, his Cavalier spirit would not admit of the necessary 
team-play. Lack of discipline is said to have ruined the 
Northern Army, and that may have been a model in little for 
the Stuart cause. When a general is courageous, daring, and 
spirited, but at the same time jealous, improvident, and unre- 
strained, his soldiers will be patterned after him, and his party 
will inevitably suffer in the long run. "' Like master, like 
man," the saying goes, and to push back this comparison 
farther, in not a few respects did Newcastle resemble his 
sovereign ; they were men of the same generation, they had 
been brought up in much the same environment ; and when 
the pinch came, they were prepared to meet it in the same 
way. Individual differences, with Charles's unusual responsi- 
bilities and problems, caused the distinctions. For while 
both were pleasure-loving, selfish, and determined, the King 
abounded in a trickery and deceit entirely foreign to the 
nobleman ; but while the Stuart fought to the last ditch and 
met his destruction, game to the very end, the fair-weather 
Newcastle turned his back at the first hint of misfortune to 
seek security and peace amid more grateful surroundings. ^ 

That he was not completely acquitted in his own day is 
plain from contemporary evidence. Shortly after the event 
John Constable wrote to his father. Sir Henry, Viscount Dun- 
bar, from Amsterdam: 2 " For the news that is here stirring, 

1 It is rather amusing to find Newcastle fifteen years later (January 23, 1659) 
writing to Nicholas : " There are many noblemen, or at least lords, that are 
corned over to Paris it is true, but those lords that can take such sudden 
apprehensions of fears so far off, I doubt will hardly have the courage to help 
our gracious Master to his throne." — Letter in Egerton Mss., Firth, p. 207. 

2 Calendar of State Papers [Domestic), 1644, Charles I, p. 378. 



42 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

first Prince Rupert is here mightily condemned for his rash- 
ness, but the Marquis of Newcastle much more for coming 
away." Again, before leaving England, the Marquis spent 
two days with Sir Hugh Cholmley, Governor of Scarborough, 
who told him quite significantly, ^ "that for my own part, 
though the place was in no defensible posture, I meant not to 
surrender till I heard from the King, or was forced to it." 
Finally Clarendon lays his share of obloquy on the delinquent 
and in the course of the attack launches into one of his famous 
character-portraits, which is easily the most important single 
testimony as to Newcastle that we have : ^ 

This may be said of it, that the like was never done or heard or 
read of before ; that two generals whereof one had still a good army 
left, his horse, by their not having performed their duty, remaining, 
upon the matter, entire, and much the greater part of his foot 
having retired into the town, the great execution having fallen upon" 
the northern foot ; and the other, having the absolute commission over 
the northern countries, and very many considerable places in them 
still remaining under his obedience, should both agree in nothing else 
but in leaving that good city and the whole country as a prey to the 
enemy. . . . 

All that can be said for the marquis is, that he was so utterly tired 
with a condition and employment so contrary to his humour, nature 
and education, that he did not at all consider the means or the way 
that would let him out of it, and free him forever from having more 
to do with it. And it was a greater wonder that he sustained the vex- 
ation and fatigue of it so long, than that he broke from it with so 
little circumspection. He was a very fine gentleman, active and full 
of courage, and most accomplished in those qualities of horsemanship, 
dancing, and fencing, which accompany a good breeding ; in which 
his delight was. Besides that, he was amorous in poetry and music, 
to which he indulged the greatest part of his time ; and nothing could 
have tempted him out of those paths of pleasure which he enjoyed in 
a full and ample fortune, but honour and ambition to serve the King 
when he saw him in distress, and abandoned by most of those who 

1 Memoirs of Sir Hugh Cholmley, 1787, I, 50. 

2 Clarendon, Book VIII, §§ 76, 82, 85, 86, 87. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 43 

were in the highest degree obliged to him and by him. He loved 
monarchy, as it was the foundation and support of his own greatness ; 
and the Church, as it was well constituted for the splendour and secu- 
rity of the Crown ; and religion, as it cherished and maintained that 
order and obedience that was necessary to both ; without any other 
passion for the particular opinions which were grown up in it and dis- 
tinguished it into parties, than as he detested whatsoever was like to 
disturb the public peace. . . .^ 

He liked the pomp and absolute authority of a general well, and 
preserved the dignity of it to the full ; and for the discharge of the 
outward state and circumstances of it, in acts of courtesy, affability, 
bounty and generosity, he abounded ; which in the infancy of a war 
became him, and made Iiim for some time very acceptable to men of 
all conditions. But the substantial part, and fatigue of a general, he 
did not in any degree understand, (being utterly unacquainted with 
war,) nor could submit to, but referred all matters of that nature to the 
discretion of his lieutenant general King, who, no doubt, was an officer 
of great experience and ability, yet, being a Scotsman, was in that 
conjuncture upon more disadvantage than he would have been if the 
general himself had been more intent upon his command. In all actions 
of the field he was still present, and never absent in any battle ; in all 
which he gave instances of an invincible courage and fearlessness in 
danger; in which the exposing himself notoriously did sometimes 
change the fortune of the day when his troops begun to give ground. 
Such articles of action were no sooner over than he retired to his 
delightful company, music, or his softer pleasures, to all which he was 
so indulgent, and to his ease, that he would not be interrupted upon 
what occasion soever ; insomuch as he sometimes denied admission to 
the chiefest officers of the army, even to general King himself, for two 
days together ; from whence many inconveniences fell out. 

From the beginning, he was without any reverence or regard for 
the Privy Council, with few of whom he had any acquaintance ; but 
was of the other soldiers' mind, that all the business ought to be done 
by councils of war, and was always angry when there were any over- 
tures of a treaty ; and therefore, (especially after the Queen had landed 
in Yorkshire and stayed so long there,) he considered any orders he 
received from Oxford, though from the King himself, more negligently 
than he ought to have done; and when he thought himself sure of 

^ Cf. the opinion of George Con, the Jesuit, in Gardiner's History of Eng- 
land, 1603-1642, VIII, 244. Also see M. Montegut in La Duchesse et le Due de 
Newcastle, pp. 279-283. 



44 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Hull, and was sure that he should be then master entirely of all the 
north, he had no mind to march nearer the King, (as he had then orders 
to march into the associated counties, when, upon the taking of Bristol, 
his majesty had a purpose to have marched towards London on the 
other side,) out of apprehension that he should be eclipsed by the Court, 
and his authority overshadowed by the superiority of prince Rupert, 
from whom he desired to be at distance. Yet when he found himself 
in distress, and necessitated to draw his army within the walls of York, 
and saw no way to be relieved but by prince Rupert, who had then 
done great feats of arms in the relief of Newark, and afterwards in his 
expedition into Lancashire, where he was at that time, he writ to the 
King to Oxford, either upon the knowledge that the absoluteness and 
illimitedness of his commission was generally much spoken of, or out 
of the conscience of some discourse of his own to that purpose, which 
might have been reported, that he " hoped his majesty did believe that 
he would never make the least scruple to obey the grandchild of King 
James " : and assuredly if the prince had cultivated the good inclinations 
the marquis had towards him, with any civil and gracious condescen- 
sions, he would have found him full of duty and regard to his service 
and interest. 

But the strange manner of the prince's coming, and undeliberated 
throwing himself, and all the King's hopes, into that sudden and 
unnecessary engagement, by which all the force the marquis had raised 
and with so many difficulties preserved was in a moment cast away and 
destroyed, so transported him with passion and despair, that he could 
not compose himself to think of beginning the work again, and involv- 
ing himself in the same undelightful condition of life, from which he 
might now be free. He hoped his past meritorious actions might out- 
weigh his present abandoning the thought of future action ; and so, 
without farther consideration, as hath been said, he transported himself 
out of the kingdom. 

II 

"THE SECOND BOOK" (1644-1667) 

The Second Book of the Life deals with Newcastle's sixteen 
years of exile and his return at their completion. The prevalent 
atmosphere is indicated at once, when his steward tells him 
there is only ;^90 with which to adventure. From then on, the 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 45 

question of money became a pressing and predominant one, 
for our Cavalier had no conception of how to economize. He 
had been accustomed all his life to have everything he could 
desire, nor are the habits of years easily broken. Certainly 
Newcastle was not experienced in the art of self-denial, so that 
his existence became a continual struggle to provide the where- 
withal for his comfort. Borrowing on insufficient security, 
cajoling creditors by his pleasing manners, robbing Peter to 
pay Paul, he soon became an adept in how to live on nothing 
a year. Upon his first arrival in Germany, a wagon had to serve 
him for a coach, until credit procured an elegant carriage and 
nine Holsatian horses. Seven of these were later given to 
Henrietta Maria, but from this time, at least two horses were 
always an essential part of his establishment ; and it is to be 
noted that even when in dire straits the fine gentleman could 
not forgo some kind of conveyance nor be expected to take 
to the legs with which Nature had provided him. 

On July 4, 1644, Newcastle set sail from Scarborough and 
four days later landed at Hamburg. With him were his two 
sons, his brother, and a company of Royalists, among them 
General King, who is said to have counselled the flight.^ On 
the voyage his oldest son Charles, Lord Mansfield, fell sick of 
the smallpox, and not long after Henry, the younger brother, 
had an attack of measles, but both recovered. From July, 1644, 
to February, 1644- 164 5, the Marquis remained at Hamburg, 
thence setting out for Paris that he might present his respects 
to the exiled Queen. He took boat to Amsterdam, and, from 
there on, his journey assumed the nature of a triumphal prog- 
ress. At Rotterdam he tendered his service to the Prince 
of Orange and to the Queen of Bohemia (in whose honor 
VVotton wrote, " You meaner Beauties of the Night ") ; at 
Brussels he was visited by the Marquis of Castle Rodrigo 

1 This statement is made by Sir Hugh Cholmley. See Firth, p. 42. 



46 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

and Count Piccolomini ; at Cambray and Peronne he gave the 
watchword for the night. Arrived at Paris in April, he went to 
wait on Henrietta Maria, when for the first time he laid eyes 
upon Margaret Lucas, a lovely girl of about twenty-two, " I 
being then one of the Maids of Honour to her Majesty ; and 
after he had stayed there some time, he was pleased to take 
some particular notice of me, and express more than an ordi- 
nary affection for me ; insomuch that he resolved to choose 
me for his second wife. For he, having but two sons, pur- 
posed to marry me, a young woman that might prove fruitful 
to him, and increase his posterity by a masculine offspring. 
Nay, he was so desirous of male issue that I have heard him 
say he cared not (so God would be pleased to give him many 
sons) although they came to be persons of the meanest 
fortunes ; but God (it seems) had ordered it otherwise, and 
frustrated his designs by making me barren, which yet did 
never lessen his love and affection for me." 

Margaret Lucas was born at St. John's near Colchester in 
Essex "about the latter end of the reign of King James the 
first," 1 as it has been the custom for her biographers to say. 
This assertion comes presumably from her own remark that when 
her father died (September 25, 1625) she was still an infant, 
and indeed farther than this it is difficult to go with security. 
Those of a more exact turn of mind have guessed the year 1624, 
but an interrogation mark has been necessary after that date.^ 
A twelvemonth earlier seems even more likely. We know that 
her death occurred on December 15, 1673, and the most nearly 
contemporary evidence is that of Anthony a Wood, who states 
that she was fifty years old at that time,^ Cokayne remarks 
that she died in her fifty-seventh year/ but that would run her 

^ Ballard's Memoirs of British Ladies, p. 20g. 

2 Did. Nat. Biog., which gives her death as 1674. 

^ The article on Walter Charleton in Athefia; Oxoftienses, Vol. IV, Col. 755. 

* Also Cokayne puts their marriage in April instead of December, 1645. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 47 

birth back to 16 17, too early for her to have been an infant 
in 1625, or such a very "young woman" twenty years later. 
Moreover, in her Poems and Fancies, when telling her own 
story under the likeness of a ship, Margaret writes, that 

In a calm of peace she swims alone, 

No stormes of war at that time thought upon 

But when that she had past nineteen degrees 

The land of happiness she no longer sees 

For then rebellious clouds foule black did grow, 

And showers of blood into those seas did throw. ^ 

The rebellion broke out in 1642, and taking her simile at its 
face value, 1623 may be accepted tentatively as the year of 
her birth, although as yet we have no absolutely conclusive 
testimony .2 Her early life was all spent in the quiet home 
circle, until she left for Oxford to become a lady-in-waiting at 
Henrietta Maria's court. Here again we find a confusion as 
to dates. The Queen joined Charles from the north on July 13, 
1643, and was with him for nine months, till April, 1644, 
within which period the future Duchess must have become 
attached to her Majesty. Historians have generally assigned 
this event to the former year, but unless they are reckoning 
Old Style, it seems more likely to have occurred in the latter, 
for in Margaret's autobiography the attendant circumstances 
are related. It appears that she cajoled her mother into letting 
her go to court, but once there she was so overcome by 
modesty that she wished to return home at once. " But my 
mother said it would be a disgrace for me to return out of the 
Court so soon after I was placed ; so I continued almost two 
years, until such time as I was married from thence."^ As 
we have seen, the love affair commenced about April, and it 

1 1653 ed., pp. 155-156. 

2 This year is also assumed in an article on " The Duchess of Newcastle, 
and her Works" in The Retrospective Review^ 1853, I, 334. 

3 From A True Relation^ Firth, p. 162. 



48 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

reached a happy ending in December, 1645. If, then, we are to 
trust the Duchess concerning events in her own Hfe, she could 
not have gone to Oxford before the end of December, 1643. 
" The marquis had before heard of this lady, for he was a 
patron and friend of her gallant brother, lord Lucas, who com- 
manded under him in the civil wars. He took occasion one 
day to ask his lordship what he could do for him, as he had 
his interest much at heart ? To which he answered, that he 
was not sollicitous about his own affairs, for he knew the worst 
could be but suffering death or exile in the Royal cause,^ but 
his chief sollicitude was for his sister, on whom he could be- 
stow no fortune, and whose beauty exposed her to danger : 
he represented her amiable qualities, and raised the marquis's 
curiosity to see her, and from that circumstance arose the mar- 
quis's affection to this lady."^ Even with this auspicious start, 
the course of true love did not run with especial smoothness, 
as at first their friends tried to break off the match and after- 
wards the Queen proved an obstacle ; but finally Newcastle 
triumphed over circumstances, so that they were married at 
Sir Richard Browne's chapel^ early in December. On the 
20th Madam Lucas wrote her new son-in-law with every evi- 
dence of approbation and satisfaction.^ She regretted, how- 
ever, that the bad times prevented Margaret's bringing him 
a suitable portion. 

The dowry would have been very welcome, since Newcastle 
was entirely without funds. Now there were two mouths for 
him to fill in no more substantial a way than by the good 
nature of his creditors ; " yet they grew weary at length, inso- 
much that his steward was forced one time to tell him that he 
was not able to provide a dinner for him, for his creditors 

1 He was shot on August 28, 1648, by sentence of court martial after the 
surrender of Colchester. ^ Gibber's Lives of the Poets, II, 163. 

3 Evelyn's Diaiy, ed. Wheatley, II, 217. * Welbeck Mss., II, 137. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CA VENDISHE 49 

were resolved to trust him no longer. My Lord being always 
a great master of his passions, was — at least showed himself 
— not in any manner troubled at it, but in a pleasant humour 
told me that I must of necessity pawn my clothes to make so 
much money as would procure a dinner. I answered that my 
clothes would be but of small value, and therefore desired my 
waiting-maid to pawn some small toys which I had formerly 
given her, which she willingly did. The same day, in the 
afternoon, my Lord spake himself to his creditors, and both 
by his civil deportment and persuasive arguments, obtained 
so much that they did not only trust him for more necessaries, 
but lent him money besides to redeem those toys that were 
pawned." In these extremities the Marchioness sent home 
for her wedding portion and her husband tried to get aid from 
England, — in vain, because he had been publicly proclaimed 
a traitor by Parliament. His two sons were also dispatched 
across the Channel to join their sisters, in hopes of contracting 
rich marriages, and in that way becoming independent.^ By 
these (and doubtless other similar) precautions, affairs mended so 
in two years' time that the Newcastles were enabled to move from 
lodgings to a rented house, which they themselves furnished ; 
likewise the Marquis procured two Barbary horses to 'exercise 
in the art of manage, one at a cost of 200 pistoles, the other 
from Lord Crofts for ^100, payable on his return to England. 
Meanwhile Newcastle kept in touch with the Royalist move- 
ments. At a council of war in Saint Germains he gave it as 
his advice that assistance must come from Scotland, " but her 
Majesty was pleased to answer my Lord that he was too 
quick." Shortly after. Prince Charles took it into his head 
to visit Holland, and the Queen requested Newcastle to follow 
his former pupil, who presumably needed supervision. There 

1 The boys did not undertake those rich matches which had been offered 
to Newcastle, but both married advantageously later on. 



50 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

was considerable difficulty about getting the creditors' permis- 
sion for him to leave Paris, but much giving and taking of 
bonds procured the desired result, Henrietta Maria took his 
obligations on herself, which was no small favor as she had 
already given him outright ^2000 sterling. He left the city 
in the third week of July, 1648,1 and "that day . . . the 
creditors, coming to take their farewell of my Lord, expressed 
so great a love and kindness for him, accompanied with so 
many hearty prayers and wishes, that he could not but prosper 
on his journey." Along the way he received great hospitality, 
notably at Cambray, where the Governor handed over the 
keys of the city and requested him to give the word that night, 
as he had done on his previous visit. Rotterdam was settled 
on as a residing-place, whither Newcastle sailed from Antwerp 
and where he procured lodgings with a loyal widow, Mrs. 
Beynham by name. Prince Charles had gone to sea, so that the 
Marquis equipped a boat and prepared to follow him but 
was dissuaded by his wife's fears. Lord Widdrington^ and 
Sir William Throckmorton undertook the task, and were ship- 
wrecked on the coast of Scotland for their pains. Later, news 
came that Charles was at The Hague, where Newcastle fre- 
quently attended him until some time in January, 1648-1649. 
Then, after nearly six months in Rotterdam, he decided to 
move to Antwerp, actuated chiefly by motives of economy. 
For in the Dutch city he had kept open house, that he might 
gain recruits to the Stuart cause, and had plunged himself 
more than ;^3000 in debt during that short period. What 
was worse, he had but little ready money to hand, so that 
seeing small possibility of a return to England he resolved to 

1 See a letter of Sir Richard Browne in Evelyn's Diaiy, IV, 340. 

2 Lord Widdrington had been made a peer on the recommendation of 
Newcastle, " for whom he had a very particular and entire friendship." They 
fought together and were together in exile for many years. See Clarendon, 
Book XIII, §69. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 51 

retrench and live as became a private gentleman. A change 
of milieu was also desirable, no doubt, to one so dependent 
upon credit, — at all events it was determined to shift to 
Antwerp. Here the Marquis and his lady first stopped at 
a public inn, until Mr. Endymion Porter insisted on their 
taking lodgings in his house, which they ultimately left for 
an establishment of their own. Another exiled Cavalier, 
Mr. William Aylesbury, lent them ;^200 of the Duke of 
Buckingham's, thus enabling them to fit out their new home 
and establish the credit so indispensable to their mode of exist- 
ence. Thanks to these favorable circumstances, Newcastle's 
exemption from taxes, ^ and the increase of English exiles 
after Charles I's execution on January 30, Antwerp became 
a very pleasant place in which to reside. When they first 
arrived, there were only four coaches that " went the Tour," i.e. 
drove "where all the chief of the town go to see and be seen, 
likewise all strangers of what quality soever, as all great princes 
or queens that make any short stay ";2 yet at the end of their 
sojourn there were more than a hundred equipages in that 
city. All the members of the Royalist colony were equally 
impecunious, of course, but they made light of their misfor- 
tunes and even got some merriment out of them. A vivid 
account of this society is given in a letter of Newcastle's 
which was intercepted in its passage and published in a con- 
temporary newspaper : ^ 

None will lend me two shillings here, but flye me and know not 
how to put bread into my mouth, as if I was the arrantest knave and 
Rogue in the World, I vow to God the ridiculousness of it makes me 
laugh heartily. . . . Againe to pass the time away withall, my Lord 
Bishop of Derry, my Lady Oneale and my selfe gravely set in Councel, 

^ See Calendar- of Clarendon Papers, IH, 154. 
^ From A True Relation, Firth, p. 173. 

^ Several Proceedings in Parliament, September 18-2J, 16^1. Reprinted in 
Firth, p. 205. 



52 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

as wise and provident Parents to provide the best we could for our 
children, agreed upon a Match between my son Harry and her daugh- 
ter, and gravely articled, bought eighteen pennyworth of Ribond for 
the wooing, the old Lady a lean Chicken in a Pipkin for the Dinner, 
with three preserved Cherries and 5 drops of Syrup by them for the 
banquet. One wiser than the rest asked how it should be performed, 
which our wisdomes never thought of before, so when my estate was 
examined, besides the Parliaments selling of it. That my debts were so 
great with what was intailed upon my Son Charles as I could estate 
nothing. The old Lady was very angry at that, but I had more reason 
than modesty, I examined her, having examined old Ladies in my 
time, and found she had as little. So the times have broke that grave 
intention — yet the joynture and portion being alike one might think 
it might go on. And so Harry is a lusty Batchelor begging homeward 
for England, but the young lady truly is very deserving and vertuous. 

Newcastle also got unbounded pleasure from training the 
two Barbary horses he had procured in Paris, until one of 
them died. Thereupon he gradually replenished his stock 
till they numbered eight in all, although it may well be re- 
marked that this was not in accordance with strict economy. 
However, the Cavalier's luxuries were not to be lightly for- 
gone, and, as his wife had heard him say, " good horses 
are so rare as not to be valued for money, and that he who 
would buy him out of his pleasure (meaning his horses) must 
pay dear for it." She goes on to give specific examples, as 
when he told a prospective buyer " that the price of that horse 
is jCiooo today, tomorrow it will be ^2000, next day ;^3000, 
and so forth." Another time the Duke of Guise sent an offer 
of 600 pistoles from Paris for a certain jumping gray,^ " but 
my Lord was so far from selling that horse, that he was dis- 
pleased to hear that any price should be offered to him : so 
great a love hath my Lord for good horses ! And certainly I 
have observed and do verily believe, that some of them had 

^ As a matter of fact, the Duke tells us in A New Method and Extraordi- 
nary Inventio7i that this horse was dead by the time the offer came, but the 
Duchess's remark is none the less pertinent. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 53 

also a particular love to my Lord ; for they seemed to rejoice 
whensoever he came into the stables, by their trampling action, 
and the noise they made ; nay, they would go much better in 
the manage, when my Lord was by, than when he was absent ; 
and when he rid them himself, they seemed to take much 
pleasure and pride in it. But of all sorts of horses, my Lord 
loved Spanish horses and barbs best ; saying that Spanish 
horses were like princes, and barbs like gentlemen in their 
kind.i And this was the chief recreation and pastime my Lord 
had in Antwerp." 

Meanwhile important political events were going on, which, 
following the Duchess's example, we shall mention only in so 
far as they affected her husband. She does not even allude to 
Charles I's death, but we soon hear of "His Majesty (our new 
gracious King, Charles the Second)." Before the new sover- 
eign sailed for Scotland, he held some negotiations at Breda 
in the spring of 1650, to which Newcastle, soon to be a 
Knight of the Garter, was admitted as privy-councillor, and 
where he distinguished himself by his " customary swearing." ^ 
He agreed with Charles that an alliance with the Scotch must 
be made at all costs and advised him to favor the Earl of 
Argyle's party, while attempting to reconcile that noble with 
the Duke of Hamilton. Newcastle wished to accompany his 
King, but the Scots absolutely refused to permit it ; and per 
conseqiienciam, as the Duchess intimates, this expedition 

^ In "To the Readers," prefixed to A New Method and Extraorditiary 
Invetition, Newcastle says this same remark was repeated to Don John of 
Austria : " W^hich answer did infinitely please the Spaniards ; and it is very 
true, the horses are so as I said." 

^ On April 6 according to Doyle (II, 557), and there is no real contradic- 
tion with Nicholas's letter in Carte's Original Letters, I, 376, which is dated 
April 3/13, i.e. April 13, Old Style. Firth falls into error here. For the 
swearing incident, see Calendar of Clarendon State Papers, II, 54. He was 
elected to the Garter on January 12, 1651-1652 (Collins, p. 41), but not installed 
until April 15, 1661. 



54 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

resulted in total failure. Certainly the Marquis's counsel was 
not carried out, for Argyle grew discontented and Hamilton 
alone marched with Charles into England. During his sover- 
eign's absence Newcastle received offers of Royalist assistance 
from the Elector of Brandenburg and the Duke of Neuberg, 
now newly reconciled, but the Stuart defeat at Worcester on 
September 3, 165 1, together with certain other inconveniences, 
prevented this aid from materializing.^ After that time Caven- 
dish took little share in politics, which Firth thinks was per- 
haps due to Hyde's growing influence.^ These two noblemen 
were not always on the best of terms,^ and only a year before 
Hyde wrote, " The Marquis of Newcastle is a very lamen- 
table man, and as fit to be a general as a bishop." ^ Yet by 
November 30, 1653, the Marquis had sent him a "very com- 
fortable letter of advice,"^ so that their relations could not 
have been entirely severed. 

About this time, i.e. early in November, 165 1, the Duchess 
and her brother-in-law, Sir Charles Cavendish, made a trip into 
England, hoping that they might secure further means of sub- 
sistence there. Sir Charles's estate was about to be sold unless 
he returned and compounded for it, which he was very loath 
to do until persuaded by Clarendon on Newcastle's solicitation. 
The Marquis had long since given up any scruples he might 
have had about money-getting and had become quite Jesuitical 
in his methods, as is shown in his letter of September 23, 1648, 
to Robert Long : " The Prince having promised that as soon 
as the gold was coined I should have ;j^iooo that I may not 
starve, I request that the bearer, Mr. Lovinge, may be put in 

1 For the correspondence, see Calendar of Clarendon State Papers, II, 
105-107. 

"^ The article on William Cavendish, first Duke of Newcastle, in Diet. Nat. 
Biog. 

" Calendar of Clarendon State Papers, I, 341, and III, 44, 51, 53. 

« Ibid., II, 63. 6 Ibid., II, 280. See also IVelbeck Mss., II, 139-141. 



I 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CA VENDISHE 5 5 

a way to effect it." ^ He may almost be said to have dunned 
the King,^ who is " grieved to hear from the Duke of New- 
castle of his sufferings on account of his loyalty " ; and he 
evidently tried to pull strings of policy as well, for the Duke 
of Buckingham writes in a letter that he is^ "sorry I have 
not been able to serve your Lordship at this present as I 
desired, but the gentleman that delivers this to you will lett 
you know how earnestly I have solicited his Majesty in your 
lordship's business." Charles's intentions were the best in the 
world, but his resources were sinking to a low ebb and his 
impecunious lords must now shift for themselves. In fact the 
King wrote to Cavendish, advising "him to endeavour the 
preservation of his estate in England, in regard of his pov- 
erty. " ^ As a result Newcastle's wife and brother set out on 
their journey, although they were so short of funds that they 
could not have got further than Southwark had not Sir Charles 
pawned his watch to pay for their night's lodging and for the 
remainder of their journey into town. 

Arrived, the Duchess put in a claim to a portion of her 
husband's property ; but that was useless,^ " for they sold all 
my Lord's estate, which was a very great one, and gave me 
not any part thereof, or any allowance thereout, which few or 
no other was so hardly dealt withal. Indeed I did not stand 
as a beggar at the Parliament door, for I never was at the 
Parliament House, nor stood I ever at the door, as I do know 
or can remember, I am sure, not as a petitioner. Neither did 



^ Hist. Mss. Comm., Report on the Pepys Mss., p. 228. 

^ Calendar of Clarendon State Papers, II, 150. 

3 VVelbeck Mss., II, 137. Also a letter from the King to Newcastle in 
Calendar of Clarendon State Papers, II, 391, shows there were wheels within 
wheels among the exiled Royalists. 

^ Hist. Mss. Comm., Report on the Pepys Mss., p. 307. 

5 From A True Relatiott, Firth, p. 167. Part of the estates had gone to a 
Major Widmerpoole. See Memoirs of Coloiiel Hutchinson, II, 387. 



56 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

I haunt the committees, for I never was at any, as a petitioner, 
but one in my life, which was called Goldsmith's Hall, but I 
received neither gold nor silver from them, only an absolute 
refusal I should have no share in my Lord's estate. For my 
brother, the Lord Lucas, did claim in my behalf such a part 
of my Lord's estate as wives had allowed them, but they told 
him that by reason I was married since my Lord was made 
a delinquent, I could have nothing, nor should have anything, 
he being the greatest traitor to the State, which was to be the 
most loyal subject to his King and country. But I whisper- 
ingly spoke to my brother to conduct me out of that ungentle- 
manly place, so without speaking to them one word good or 
bad, I returned to my lodgings, and as that committee was 
the first, so was it the last, I ever was at as a petitioner." It 
is symptomatic that while here the authoress gives the true 
cause of her being refused,^ in the panegyrical Life she has 
worked herself up into stating that her brother " received 
this answer, that I could not expect the least allowance, by 
reason my Lord and husband had been the greatest traitor of 
England (that is to say, the honestest man, because he had 
been most against them.)" Since facts reflected no especial 
credit on her Lord, they are omitted, and fancy supplies the 
necessary radiance. 

Meanwhile, Sir Charles negotiated for his estate, but the 
process of compounding was so slow, laborious, and unproduc- 
tive that credit alone enabled them to keep body and soul 
together. Newcastle's two sons were also in England without 
means, and, in addition to all this, came a plea from the 
Marquis at Antwerp. His creditors were growing impatient, 
he wrote, and they would trust him no longer. In this strait 
Sir Charles managed to scrape ;;^200 sterling together upon 
credit and sent it off to the Continent, but before it reached 

^ Calendat- of the Proceedings of the Committee for Compounding, p. 1733- 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 57 

its destination affairs had come to a head. Newcastle had 
assembled his creditors and harangued them with such effect 
that, melted to pity by his misfortunes, they promised to assist 
him in whatever way they could. Then came the ;^200 from 
England, and a feast took the place of the famine. Sir Charles 
was having worse luck, for after he had agreed to pay ^^4500 
for his estate. Parliament ordered it surveyed again. In this 
way the sum was increased by ;^500, which he had to raise 
by selling some of his land at an underrate. Also, when the 
Marquis's estate was to be sold outright, Sir Charles deter- 
mined to save the two chief houses of Welbeck and Bolsover 
and was compelled to sacrifice more of his land to accomplish 
this object. Bolsover had already been bought by some one, who 
was pulling it down to make money from the materials ; ^ but 
despite its almost complete demolition. Sir Charles had to pay 
a much higher price than if he could have got it at first hand. 
The Duchess tells us that while in England she led a very 
retired life, only going out to make half a score of visits, to hear 
music three or four times at the house of Henry Lawes, and 
to drive with her sisters in Hyde Park.^ She wrote a good deal 
both at this period and after her return to Antwerp, which 
occurred toward the middle or end of 1653, upon her receiving 
a report of the Marquis's malaise. Sir Charles planned to 
accompany her but was seized by an ague that prevented and 
that ultimately caused his death, on February 23, 1653-1654.^ 
The news plunged Newcastle into grief, for his brother was 
not only brilliant but also most lovable, as we learn from 

1 This is the Duchess's statement, but on June 23, 1649, ^^ Council of State 
had already ordered that Bolsover should be made untenable. See Calettdar 
of State Papers {Do?nestic), id^g, pp.204, 217-218. 

2 A Tnie Relation, Firth, pp. 169-170. 

^ Firth puts it on February 4, without authority. But see Calendar of 
Clarendon State Papers, II, 317, No. 1742; the preceding Monday was the 
23rd. 



58 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Clarendon, who marvels at the strength and beauty of his mind 
and soul as compared with his small deformed body.^ The 
Duchess says that " even his enemies did much lament his 
loss " and elsewhere pays him a still more flattering tribute, 
when for the only time she indulges in a comparison unfavor- 
able to her husband and admits that he " has not so much of 
scholarship and learning as his brother Sir Charles Cavendish." ^ 
Before this sad event the Duchess had arrived safely at Ant- 
werp, whereupon their creditors, supposing she had brought 
back a large sum of money, thronged to the Marquis anew and 
anew had to be appeased by eloquence or empty promises. Yet 
in November of this year (1653) we find Newcastle negotiating 
over pearls valued at ^10 for his wife, doubtless a gift in 
honor of her return.^ The palliation, if there be any, lies in 
the husband's devotion, which was so great that, we are told, he 
"' confined himself most to her company . . . yet with honour, 
and decency, and with much respect paid him by all men." ^ 
Not a few important strangers passed through Antwerp in 
these days, and apparently all of them visited Cavendish,^ 
whose manage was one of the sights of the town, while his 
authoritative work on horsemanship was already receiving at- 
tention. King Charles himself honoured Newcastle's house 
with the Royal presence, when on his way towards Germany. 
Both the Duke of Oldenburg and the Prince of East Friesland 
presented him with horses of their own breed. The Landgrave 
of Hesse after being at the Marquis's stables wrote him " by a 
very kind letter " that he would add two steeds to the estab- 
lishment, but his early death prevented that gift. " The Prince 

1 Clarendon, Book VI, § 29. 2 pirth, p. 106. 

^ Cale7idar of Clarendon State Papers, II, 277, 284, 313. 

* Life of Clarendon by himself Oxford, 1827, I, 292. 

^ Sir John Reresby remarks that at the time of his visit, "The old Duke of 
Newcastle (though then but Marquis) lived at Antwerp, but I durst not visit 
him for fear of being discovered." — Memoirs, p. 35. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 59 

of Cond^ himself, with several Noble-men, and Officers, 
was pleased to take the pains to go twice to my Mannage : 
And though the French think. That all the Horsemanship 
in the World is in France ; yet one of them, and he a very 
great Man in his Country, was heard say, directing his Speech 
to me : Par Dieu (Monsieur) il est bien hardi qui monte de- 
vant vous : And another said, at another time : II n'y a plus 
de Segnieur comme vous en Angleterre." ^ When Don John 
of Austria, the governor of those provinces, stayed in Ant- 
werp, more than seventeen coaches waited on the Marquis 
in a single morning, Don John was kept away by the multi- 
plicity of his affairs but sent most lavish apologies and was 
exceedingly gracious when Cavendish came to call upon him, 
desiring to see the book on horsemanship before it was 
printed.2 His successor, the Marquis of Caracena, was very 
anxious to watch Newcastle ride, and although he was not in 
good practice, having been sick for six weeks or two months 
previously, the stranger's urgent requests prevailed. Of this 
incident he gives us a technical but at the same time a most 
suggestive account : ^ 

The Marquess of Caracena was so civilly earnest to see me ride, 
that he was pleased to say that it would be a great satisfaction to him 
to see me on horseback, though the horse should but walk. And see- 
ing that no excuses would serve (though I did use many) I was con- 
tented to satisfy his so obliging a curiosity; and told him, I would 
obey his commands, though I thought I should hardly be able to sit 
in the saddle. Two days after he came to my manage, and I rid first 
a Spanish horse called Le Superbe, of a light bay, a beautiful horse, 
and though hard to be rid, yet when he was hit right, he was the 
readiest horse in the world. He went in corvets, forward, backward, 
side-ways, on both hands ; made the cross perfectly upon his voltoes ; 
and did change upon his voltoes so just, without breaking time, that 
a musician could not keep time better ; and went terra k terra perfectly, 

^ " To the Readers," prefixed to A New Method and Extraordinary Invention. 
2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 



/ 



6o THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

The second horse I rid, was another Spanish called Le Genty ; and 
was rightly named so, for he was the finest-shaped horse that ever I 
saw, and the neatest ; a brown bay with a white star in his forehead ; 
no horse ever went terra a terra like him, so just and so easy ; and for 
the piroyte in his length, so just and so swift that the standers-by 
could hardly see the rider's face when he went and truly when he had 
done, I was so dizzy, that I could hardly sit in the saddle. The third 
and last horse I rid then was a Barb, that went a metz-ayre very high, 
both forward and upon his voltoes and terra k terra. And when I had 
done riding the Marquess of Caracena seemed to be very well satis- 
fied ; and some Spaniards that were with him, crossed themselves, and 
cried Miraculo ! 

On returning from Germany Charles rode in the manage, 
for he had learned the art from Newcastle himself in the days 
of his tutorship. Also, since it chanced that the Princess- 
Royal, the Duke of York, and the Duke of Gloucester were all 
in Antwerp, Newcastle gave them an elaborate entertainment 
at his house. Sir Charles Cottrell describes it in a letter to 
Secretary Nicholas : ^ 

At the ball at Lord Newcastle's was the Duchess of Loraine and her 
son and daughter, with the King and his brothers and sister, several 
French people and some of the town. The King was brought in with 
music, and all being placed. Major Mohun, the player, in a black satin 
robe and garland of bays, made a speech in verse of his lordship's own 
poetry, complimenting the King in his highest hyperbole. Then there 
was dancing for two hours, and then my Lady's Moor, dressed in 
feathers, came in and sang a song of the same author's, set and taught 
him by Nich. Lanier. Then was the banquet brought in in eight great 
chargers, each borne by two gentlemen of the court, and others bring- 
ing wines, drinks, etc. Then they danced again two hours more, and 
Major Mohun ended all with another speech, prophesying his Majesty's 
re-establishment.^ 

This was in February, 1658, and two years later Royalist 
hearts beat high, for the prophecy was fulfilled, Charles was 

; ^ Calendar of State Pape7-s, i6jy-i6j8, pp. 296, 311. 

/ ^ No wonder on a later occasion Charles " did merrily, and in jest, tell me 

I that he perceived my Lord's credit could procure better meat than his own." — 

Firth, p. 63. 



'■^ 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 6 1 

recalled to the English throne, and Newcastle's sixteen-year-long 
exile was ended. Some difficulty arose because of his per- 
ennial creditors, despite such excellent management as the 
Duchess describes when characterizing their menage ; for 
" my Lord, partly with the remainder of his brother's estate 
(which was but little, it being wasted by selling of land for 
compounding with the Parliament, paying of several debts, 
and buying out the two houses aforementioned, viz. Welbeck 
and Bolsover) and the credit which his sons had got, which 
amounted in all to ^^2400 a year, sprinkled something amongst 
his creditors, and borrowed so much of Mr. Top and Mr. Smith 
(though without assurance) that he could pay such scores as 
were most pressing, contracted from the poorer sort of trades- 
men, and send ready money to market, to avoid cozenage (for 
small scores run up most unreasonably, especially if no strict 
accounts be kept, and the rate be left to the creditor's pleasure) 
by which means there was in a short time so much saved, as 
it could not have been imagined." Notwithstanding all these 
precautions, if one will give elaborate entertainments to pro- 
claim his loyalty and buy costly pearls to deck out his wife, he 
must expect his bank account to diminish. This poverty of 
the Newcastles was not due to their having too little, but to their 
wanting too much. But 1660 had arrived, the King had come 
into his own again, and nothing must stand in the way of a 
return. Therefore Newcastle conceived the idea of having his 
wife stay as a hostage to their creditors, while he set sail even 
before Charles. The Duchess evidently thought this not at 
all unnatural, for she relates the story of his journey home 
with an elation and sincerity that make it one of her most 
successful passages — the particular instance, while never for a 
moment forgotten, taking on an almost universal aspect : 

In the meantime, whilst my Lord was at the Hague, his Majesty 
was pleased to tell him, that General Monk, now Duke of Albermarle, 
had desired the place of being Master of the Horse ; to which my 



62 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Lord answered, that that gallant person was worthy of any favour that 
his Majesty could confer upon him : and having taken his leave of his 
Majesty, and his Highness the Duke of York, went towards the ship 
that was to transport him for England (I might better call it a boat, 
than a ship ; for those that were intrusted by my Lord to hire a ship 
for that purpose, had hired an old rotten frigate that was lost the next 
voyage after ; insomuch, that when some of the company that had 
promised to go over with my Lord, saw it, they turned back, and 
would not endanger their lives in it, except the now Lord Widdrington, 
who was resolved not to forsake my Lord.) 

My Lord (who was so transported with the joy of returning into his 
native country, that he regarded not the vessel) having set sail from 
Rotterdam, was so becalmed, that he was six days and six nights upon 
the water, during which time he pleased himself with mirth, and passed 
his time away as well as he could ; provisions he wanted not, having 
them in great store and plenty. At last, being come so far that he was 
able to discern the smoke of London, which he had not seen in a long 
time, he merrily was pleased to desire one that was near him, to jog 
and awake him out of his dream, for surely, said he, I have been six- 
teen years asleep, and am not thoroughly awake yet. My Lord lay that 
night at Greenwich, where his supper seemed more savoury to him, 
than any meat he had hitherto tasted ; and the noise of some scraping 
fiddlers he thought the pleasantest harmony that ever he had heard. 

In the meantime my Lord's son, Henry, Lord Mansfield, now Earl 
of Ogle, was gone to Dover with intention to wait on his Majesty, and 
receive my Lord his father, with all joy and duty, thinking he had 
been with his Majesty ; but when he missed of his design, he was very 
much troubled and more when his Majesty was pleased to tell him that 
my Lord had set to sea, before his Majesty himself was gone out of 
Holland, fearing my Lord had met with some misfortune in his journey, 
because he had not heard of his landing. Wherefore he immediately 
parted from Dover, to seek my Lord, whom at last he found at 
Greenwich. With what joy they embraced and saluted each other, 
my pen is too weak to express. 

Naturally Newcastle strained every means to redeem his wife 
from pawn, but as it was uncertain whether he was to have his 
estate, the borrowing of money was extremely difficult. At 
last he procured what seemed enough from one Mr, Ash, but 
the Duchess had been meantime running up bills herself and 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 63 

travelling expenses also must be paid. The sum fell short by 
;^400, which she finally obtained from Mr. Shaw, a near kins- 
man to the aforesaid Ash. When her preparations for departure 
were completed, the magistrates of Antwerp came to offer their 
respects and afterwards sent a farewell present of wine, accord- 
ing to the custom. Flushing was to have been the Duchess's 
port of sail, but as no English man-of-war had arrived there, 
she was fain to cross on a Dutch ship, that favor being granted 
her by the government. At London her husband was dwelling 
in lodgings not suited to his position, " neither did I find my 
Lord's condition such as I expected." This phrase may mean 
that Newcastle was so old-fashioned as not to fit easily into the 
court life surrounding Charles IL His past services had to be 
recognized and rewarded,^ but one gathers that he was made 
to feel \im\^Q\.i persona non grata in the new regime. His wife, 
with a woman's intuition, seems to have comprehended the 
situation at once, for " out of some passion " she urged him to 
leave town forthwith and retire into the country. At first he 
reproved her impatience and moved to better quarters in 
Dorset House but shortly after announced his decision to take 
her advice. 

There is something infinitely pathetic in this picture of the 
man who has outlived his age. Newcastle was now nearly sev- 
enty years old, and in those shifting days, the England to 
which he returned was hardly recognizable as the England he 
had left. The last trace of the old Elizabethan spirit had died 
out, and the " Restoration " with all that it connotes had come 
into being. It was inevitable that the Cavalier whose interests 
had been in horsemanship and weapons, whose faults were the 
result of an excessive but spirited pride, should have little 
in common with the effeminate and amorous courtiers that 

^ On September 13, 1660, Charles gave his assent to an act restoring 
to Newcastle all his possessions. 



64 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

surrounded Charles II. The pre-Revolutionary court had had 
its weakness which went hand in hand with its strength ; now 
its vices and virtues were together broken down and a different 
atmosphere prevailed. Newcastle had given up his ease at 
home, sacrificed much, and fought bravely for the Stuarts; 
since his flight he had been as devotedly loyal to a forlorn 
cause. When the King was executed, his affections and hopes 
were transferred to the Prince, for whom he had worked, and 
in whom he had believed through his years of exile. " My 
Lord was never without hopes of seeing yet (before his 
death) a happy issue of all his misfortunes and sufferings, 
especially of the restoration of his most gracious King and 
master, to his throne and kingly right, whereof he always 
had assured hopes, well knowing, that it was impossible for 
the kingdom to subsist long under so many changes of gov- 
ernment ; and whensoever I expressed how little faith I had 
in it, he would gently reprove me, saying I believed least what 
I desired most." ^ Now that Newcastle saw his quondam pupil 
raised to the throne, he had every reason to expect an important 
share in the general exultation over restored freedom and power. 
Instead, he found himself set aside in favor of younger and 
more entertaining companions. Presently the new favorite, 
Buckingham, became incensed at a comparison made by the 
Earl of Bristol in the House of Lords between his past loyalty 
and Cavendish's. A duel was about to take place, but Charles 
intervened to protect his friend.^ There could be no possibility 
of misunderstanding the situation later, when in 1663 New- 
castle became involved in an altercation with Buckingham over 
Colonel Hutchinson's imprisonment and was humiliatingly 
forced to withdraw the promises of freedom he had given to 

^ Firth, p. 59. 

2 Hist. Mss. Comm., j Rep., App., pp. 155, 177. This was on August 6, 1660, 
Buckingham being the second duke of that name. 



I 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CA VENDISHE 65 

that Rebel officer.^ Charles cannot be blamed if he resented 
the intrusive presence of an older man, which must have been 
unpleasantly suggestive of paternal and tutorial surveillance, 
but that does not soften the essential tragedy of Newcastle's 
position. 

At all events, Charles seems to have made no demur when 
the Marquis requested leave of absence from London. ^ The 
Life intimates as much by the very things it leaves unsaid, 
though it is probably true that Cavendish's loyalty did not in 
the least abate : 

My Lord, before he began his journey, went to his gracious Sov- 
ereign, and begged leave that he might retire into the country, to reduce 
and settle, if possible, his confused, entangled, and almost ruined estate. 
" Sir," said he to his Majesty, " I am not ignorant, that many believe 
I am discontented ; and 'tis probable, they '11 say, I retire through dis- 
content : but I take God to witness, that I am no kind or ways dis- 
pleased ; for I am so joyed at your Majesty's happy restoration, that 
I cannot be sad or troubled for any concern to my own particular ; but 
whatsoever your Majesty is pleased to command me, were it to sacri- 
fice my life, I shall most obediently perform it ; for I have no other 
will, but your Majesty's pleasure." Thus he kissed his Majesty's 
hand, and went the next day into Nottinghamshire, to his manor- 
house called Welbeck. 

Love of the country was given out as his reason for retiring, 
but it is more likely that the Duchess's unsuitability to society 
and their lack of funds were contributory causes. In addition, 

^ Memoirs of Colonel Hutchhison, II, 290-292. 

^ Clement Ellis, Newcastle's chaplain, thus comments on his retirement in 
the prefatory epistle to a sermon preached on May 29, 1661 : "With much 
pleasure I have hearkened to you discoursing of that satisfaction you reaped 
from that sweet privacy and retirement his Majesty is pleased to grant your 
Lordship here in the country. Indeed, the greatest reward his Majesty can 
possibly recompense your services withal, is thus to bestow you upon your- 
self, and I know you think it greater happiness to enjoy my Lord Marquis of 
Newcastle at Welbeck, than all the offices and honours which your exem- 
plary loyalty has merited." — Kennet's Ecclesiastical and Civil Register, p. 455, 
in Firth, p. 68, n. 



66 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Newcastle was very fond of his northern estates, and he wished 
to do all that he could towards restoring their former glory. 
Welbeck and Bolsover, it will be remembered, were secured by 
Sir Charles Cavendish, but after his death they had passed into 
the hands of Charles, Viscount Mansfield, the Marquis's elder 
son. When this Charles died in June, 1659, they were trans- 
ferred to his younger brother Henry, afterwards Earl of Ogle. 
The hangings and pictures were on the point of going to 
pay Charles's debts, but letters from Antwerp had persuaded 
Henry to redeem them : ^ 

1659 Oct. II. — Your sister [in-law] not being with child makes us 
know we can pretend but little interest in her. What her jointure is 
I know not. Now for what is in our power, I pray you live at your 
own houses, We[lbeck] and Bo[lsover], which will much conduce to 
your health. The next is for the goods, which troubles me much, that 
so long gathering by your ancestors should be destroyed in a moment. 
This is my earnest advice to you. First they are appraised, and goods 
are never appraised at a third part of their value ; and then you may 
buy them and no ill bargain if you took the money at interest or your 
father-in-law laid out the money and had all the goods in his hands 
for his security. My intention is but to save the goods for you, that 
is all the design my wife and I have in the business, for she is as kind 
to you as she was to your brother and so good a wife as that she is all 
for my family, which she expresses is only you. 

1659 Oct. 25. — I can write no more about the goods except that I 
and my wife give all our interest therein to you wholly and totally. 
There are many good pictures besides Vandykes and " Stennickes " 
[Steenwijcks]. Pray leave your dovecot where you are now and live 
at Wel[beck], which will conduce much to your health and your Lady's 
and the little Ladies'. 

1659 Nov. 15. — I give you hearty thanks for preserving the rem- 
nants of those goods. I believe your sister[in-law's] servants have made 
great spoil of the goods, for the painter told me the cases of crimson 
velvet for the chairs in the parlour at Bolsover were there a little 
before your brother Charles died. But we must part fair with her, and 
repair it as well as we can. The gold lace and embroidery of the purple 

1 Welbeck Mss., II, 143. Newcastle wrote under the name of Robert 
Deane. 



I 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 67 

velvet bed was worth ^300 at least, and five chambers at Bolsover 
were furnished with very fine hangings at £^ a stick. The pictures 
there were most rare, and if you think they are a little spoiled, I will 
send over the painter to you again. 

If ever I see you I will make W[elbeck] a very fine place for you. 
I am not in despair of it, though I believe you and I are not such 
good architects as your worthy grandfather. If I am blessed with the 
happiness of seeing you, it will be a thousand pounds a year better 
for you than if I should die before. 

Now Newcastle found the two houses in bad repair, Bolsover 
indeed being half pulled down, as we have seen. Many of his 
other lands he had difficulty in obtaining because of the Act 
of Oblivion, and some he sold to buy the Castle of Notting- 
ham or to pay his outstanding debts. What he succeeded in 
retaining was much injured ; of his eight parks, only one, 
Welbeck, was not completely destroyed. In especial Clipston 
Park (its pale-row alone had been worth ^2000), where his 
Grace had been wont to hunt, hawk, and fish, was totally ruined. 
" And although his patience and v/isdom is such, that I 
never perceived him sad or discontented for his own losses and 
misfortunes, yet when he beheld the ruins of that park I ob- 
served him troubled, though he did not express it, only saying, 
he had been in hopes it would not have been so much defaced 
as he found it, there being not one timber-tree in it left for 
shelter. However, he patiently bore what could not be helped, 
and gave present order for the cutting down of some wood 
that was left him in a place near adjoining, to repale it, and 
got from several friends deer to stock it." Also he stocked 
and manured his other lands, as well as rebuilding the two 
manor-houses. 

At this stage in her work the Duchess launches forth into 
a lengthy account of her husband's possessions and what ex- 
traordinary losses he suffered during the Rebellion. The very 
briefest summary will suffice. His property came through 



68 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

three women : his grandmother on his father's side, EHzabeth 
Hardwick, who afterward married Sir Wilham St. Loo and 
finally George, Earl of Shrewsbury, both without issue ; his 
own mother, Catharine, daughter and only surviving heir of 
Cuthbert, Lord Ogle ; and finally his first wife, Elizabeth 
Basset of Blore, widow of Henry Howard, younger son to 
the Earl of Suffolk. These three rich alliances explain the 
vast estate which accumulated for Newcastle and the otherwise 
almost incredible figure at which his wife places his total loss 
— ;^94i,303- This sum is arrived at by reckoning, item by 
item, the annual rents for eighteen years, the damage to parks, 
the lands lost in present possession and in reversion, those 
sold to pay his debts, and the composition of his brother's 
estate, so that there is no reason for doubting the calculations. 
This does not include the loss of his personal estate, i.e. the 
furnishings and appointments of houses and parks, nor the 
expense from lawsuits and rehabilitating the property, which 
was incurred after 1660. Thus in a perfect whirlwind of facts 
and figures the Duchess brings her Second Book to a close, 
leaving the reader overwhelmed by Newcastle's stupendous mis- 
fortunes and the consequent extent of his loyal self-sacrifice. 

HI 

"THE THIRD AND FOURTH BOOKS" (1667-1676) 

It remains to describe the last years of the Duke and 
Duchess, as they became on March 16, 1 664- 166 5. ^ In 1661 
the King had created Newcastle Chief-Justice in Eyre Trent- 
North, but this post seems to have been more onerous than 

^ On May 5 " the Duke of Newcastle [came to town, and the next day 
waited on his Majesty to render his humble thanks for the addition of honour 
lately conferred on him, which his Majesty was pleased to accept with such 
favour as showed not only a regard to his merit, but an affection for his 
person." — Hist. Mss. Comm., The Mss. of J. M. Heathcote, p. 191. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CA VENDISHE 69 

decorative/ so that it was natural for the Marquis to look 
toward higher advancement. Moreover, as we have seen, he 
was a politician by nature, and Charles owed him large sums 
of money, which there was little likelihood that he would ever 
get back. All things seemed to work together, then, especially 
when it was flatly announced that only the ^3500 principal 
of a £,<^2dp debt was to be paid, and a large part of that by 
"privy seal." 2 As a result Newcastle felt not only justified 
but also fairly confident in applying for the much-desired, if 
comparatively inexpensive, dukedom. That he showed no 
hesitancy in doing so, is plain from a letter of Charles's 
written to him on June 7, 1 664 : ^ 

I have received yours by your son, and am resolved to grant your 
request. Send me therefore word what title you desire to have, or 
whether you will choose to keepe your old and leave the rest to me. 
I do not tell you I will despatch it tomorrow ; you must leave the time 
to me, to accomodate it to some other ends of myne ; but the differing 
it shall not be long nor with any circumstance that shall trouble you. 
I am glad you enjoy your health for I love you very well. 

The Marquis chose to keep his same title and accordingly 
became Earl of Ogle and first Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. 
Yet, despite these new honors, his later days were spent 
quietly in the country, far from the activities of a busy world. 
Witness his letter written to Colonel Legg on August 2, 1666 :^ 

Noble Sir, 

I am borne to trouble you — and this nowe is to desire you to pre- 
sente my moste humble dewtye and service to his Majestic, and tell 
him I congratulate with my sole his Majesties late and most glorious 
victory over his enemies, which will make all his neyghbor kinges 
stoope to him — and I praye, Sir, aquainte his Majestie that I have 
a fine roebuck, and to knowe whether I shall sende him upp or no; 

1 See Welbeck Mss., printed in Firsi Duke and Duchess, pp. 2 16-217. 

2 Ibid., p. 218. 

8 Welbeck Mss., II, 145. 

* Hist. Mss. Comm., ji Rep., App., Part /^ p. 14. 



JO THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

he was taken att my litle farme in Northumberlande, theye are melen- 
collye neshe peevishe thinges, — beleve mee, Sir, I ame pationatlye 
Your olde and most faythful servante 

W. Newcastle 

He was, no doubt, one of the most conspicuous figures in north- 
ern England, as we may imagine from his friendly relations 
with that arch-Puritan, Colonel Hutchinson,^ and from Sir John 
Reresby's proud assertion that the Duke " used to say that he 
hoped to see five generations of my family ; that he knew Sir 
Thomas Reresby very well, and desired to be godfather to my 
son, if he lived till one was born to the family." ^ Newcastle 
and his wife paid occasional visits to town ; at all events we 
know they were there for an extended stay in April and 
May, 1667. On April 10 the King visited them, and on 
May 30 the Duchess attended a meeting of the Royal Society. 
Samuel Pepys records these facts and also his very decided 
impressions about the lady, which we will leave for a more 
particular study, together with John Evelyn's account of her 
eccentricities. Later Newcastle returned with his wife to 
Welbeck and there resumed the even tenor of rural life. 

Nothing more need be added here but the chronicle of 
their deaths. The Duchess went first, on December 15, 1673, 
and was buried the following January 7 in the North Transept 
of Westminster Abbey.^ Her husband, now a man of eighty, 
survived for what must have been a lonely three years, dying 
on Christmas Day, 1676. He was succeeded by his son Henry, 
Earl of Ogle, who was evidently more to Charles's liking than 
the father had been, for that monarch greeted the news of 

* Memoirs of Colonel Hutchinson, II, 274, 286. 

* Memoirs, p. 79, and see also p. 92 for another reference to the friendly 
relations existing between the two gentlemen. 

' " Mr. Fulman, in the fifteenth volume of his manuscript collections in 
Corpus Christi College Archives states that she died in London." — Ballard's 
Memoirs of British Ladies, p. 213. For Charles's grant of the burying place 
ittHisi.Mss. Comm.,js Rep., App., Fart VI/,p.yS (News-letter of May 13, 1671). 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 71 

Newcastle's end with these words: "I should be most sorry 
for the death of my old friend but that so very honest and 
worthy a man is the better for it." ^ The Duke was buried 
beside his wife under the monument he had himself erected. 
'" Against the Skreen of the Chappel of St. Michael you 
behold a most noble spacious Tomb all of white Marble, but 
adorned with Two Pillars of black Marble, with Entablatures 
of the Corinthian Order, embellished with Arms and most 
curious Trophy-works, on the Pedestal whereon you see Two 
Images in full Proportion, of white Marble in a cumbent 
Posture in their Robes." ^ Beneath appears the following 
appreciative inscription : 

Here lyes the Loyall Duke of Newcastle and his Dutchess, his sec- 
ond wife by whom he had noe issue : Her name was Margarett Lucas, 
youngest sister to the Lord Lucas of Colchester, a noble familie ; for 
all the Brothers were Valiant, and all the Sisters virtuous.^ The 
Dutchess was a wise, wittie and Learned Lady, which her many Books 
do well testifie ; she was a most Virtuous and a Loveing and careful! 
wife and was with her Lord all the time of his banishment and miseries 
and when he came home, never parted from him in his solitary 
retirement. 

Washington Irving in the paper on "Westminster Abbey" in 
his Sketch Book writes of these lines, "There was a noble way, 
in former times, of saying things simply and yet saying them 
proudly, and I do not know of an epitaph that breathes a 
loftier consciousness of family worth and honorable lineage." ^ 
The Life was published in 1667, as has been said, and con- 
sequently that year is the later limit of the Duchess's biography. 
The Third Book of the four into which it is divided contains 

1 Welbeck A/ss., II, 152. 

2 Joducus CruU's T/ie Atitiquities of St Peter's, or the Abbey-Church of 
Westminster, 17 13, p. 276. 

^ Addison is "very much pleased" with this passage, apropos of courage 
in men and chastity in women. See Spectator, No. 99, Saturday, June 23, 171 1. 
* Works, 1857, II, 218. 



72 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

little new material, but it recapitulates and rehearses much 
of what has gone before, grouping it under sixteen particular 
heads. Needless to say, only the most laudatory topics are 
admitted and these so emphasized as to be mainly responsible 
for the impression made upon the reader. Countless repeti- 
tions and constantly recurring tables do much to mar the effect, 
but in its essential plan this part of her book is the highest 
manifestation of our author's unconscious literary skill. The 
first divisions are especially striking and worthy of attention, 
because of their lively portraiture and vivid anecdotes. "Of his 
Power " contains an account of Newcastle's success in raising 
troops, together with a history of the White-coats, their forma- 
tion, their valor, their loyalty, and their destruction. A specific 
incident is used to drive these points home, and it is only to be 
regretted that the Duchess neutralized her story's force by fol- 
lowing it with tabular lists of officers and garrison governors : 

My Lord being in Antwerp, received a visit from a gentleman, who 
came out of England, and rendered my Lord thanks for his safe escape 
at sea; my Lord being in amaze, not knowing what the gentleman 
meant, he was pleased to acquaint him, that in his coming over sea 
out of England, he was set upon by pickaroons, who having examined 
him, and the rest of his company, at last some asked him, whether he 
knew the Marquess of Newcastle? To whom he answered, that he 
knew him ver)' well, and was going over into the same city where my 
Lord lived. Whereupon they did not only take nothing from him, but 
used him with all civility, and desired him to remember their humble 
duty to their Lord-General, for they were some of his White-coats that 
had escaped death; and if my Lord had any service for them, they 
were ready to assist him upon what designs soever, and to obey him 
in whatsoever he should be pleased to command them. 

"Of his Misfortunes and Obstructions" and "Of his Loyalty 
and Sufferings " recount most of the lets and hindrances which 
confronted Newcastle, the former being a brief resume of all 
those obstacles to his military success already enumerated in 
the First Book and coming to a close with his defeat at 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CA VENDISHE 73 

Marston Moor. The fourth section, " Of his Prudence and 
Wisdom," is thrust in next, with the Duchess's usual naive 
disregard for the natural sequence, which would make number 
five, " Of his Blessings," follow " his Loyalty and Sufferings." 
Said prudence and wisdom consisted in a prophecy of the 
Civil War, in his excellent management of the Northern Army 
and of his own private affairs (" although my Lord naturally 
loves not business, especially those of state"), and in the " Little 
Book " which he wrote during his exile to tell Charles II how 
the kingdom should be governed. The most unexpected bless- 
ing is item three (many of these sections have subcataloguing) 
and coming from such an outspoken and frank second wife, 
it is no mean tribute : 

That He [God] made him happy in his marriage ; (for his first wife 
was a very kind, loving and virtuous lady) and blessed him with duti- 
ful and obedient children, free from vices, noble and generous, both 
in their natures and actions ; who did all that lay in their power to 
support and relieve my Lord their father in his banishment as is 
before mentioned. 

Number six is a formal list " Of his Honours and Dignities"; 
number seven, a memorandum " Of the Entertainments he 
made for King Charles the First." 

In the other divisions the Duchess becomes even more 
personal and particular. " His Education " has been considered 
in its proper chronological place ; " His Natural Wit and 
Understanding " is largely occupied with an account of his 
relations with Hobbes ; "Of his Natural Humour and Dis- 
position " is a panegyric on his numerous and varied virtues, 
ending with this equivocal reservation : 

In short, I know him not addicted to any manner of vice except that 
he has been a great lover and admirer of the female sex; which, 
whether it be so great a crime as to condemn him for it, I '11 leave 
to the judgment of young gallants and beautiful ladies. 



74 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Sections 11-15 inclusive are all short, but each gives an inti- 
mate and important account of some phase of her husband's 
personality, so that they deserve to be considered in full : 

II. Of his Outward Shape and Behavior 

His shape is neat and exactly proportioned ; his stature of a middle 
size, and his complexion sanguine. 

His behaviour is such, that it might be a pattern for all gentlemen ; 
for it is courtly, civil, easy and free without formality or constraint; 
and yet hath something in it of grandeur, that causes an awful respect 
towards him. 

Now the Duchess's way of saying that her husband ought to 
have been the mould of form is quite as important as the fact, 
which seems true enough. Newcastle's education and his sub- 
sequent career must have tended to develop a pleasing and 
agreeable dignity of manner. 

12. Of his Discourse 

His discourse is as free and unconcerned as his behaviour, pleasant, 
witty, and instructive ; he is quick in repartee or sudden answers, and 
hates dubious disputes and premeditated speeches. He loves also to 
intermingle his discourse with some short pleasant stories and witty 
sayings, and always names the author from whom he hath them ; for 
he hates to make another man's wit his own. 

This ability in repartee is exemplified by a traditional anecdote,^ 
which has been taken to cast some doubt on Newcastle's 
tolerant affection for his Duchess and may perhaps help to 
explain it. Mr. Jonathan Richardson,^ the younger, on the 
authority of a Mr. Fellows, relates that a friend congratulated 
Cavendish on having such a very wise woman as his wife. 
"Sir" replied the Duke in almost Johnsonian fashion, "a 

1 Compare also the bon mot related by Warwick at the siege of Hull. See 
above, p. 32. 

2 Richardsoniana, pp. 249-250, in First Duke and Duchess, p. 268. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 75 

very wise woman is a very foolish thing," This may be con- 
sidered the expression of a passing mood or the unthinking 
retort of a habitual wit, but it may scarcely be supposed to offer 
serious testimony against the Newcastles' married happiness. 

13. Of his Habit 

He accoutres his person according to the fashion, if it be one that 
is not troublesome and uneasy for men of heroic exercises and actions. 
He is neat and cleanly; which makes him to be somewhat long in 
dressing, though not so long as many effeminate persons are. He 
shifts [i. e. changes his clothes] ordinarily once a day, and every time 
when he uses exercise, or his temper is more hot than ordinary. 

14. Of his Diet 

In his diet he is so sparing and temperate, that he never eats nor 
drinks beyond his set proportion, so as to satisfy only his natural 
appetite. He makes but one meal a day, at which he drinks two good 
glasses of small-beer, one about at the beginning, the other at the end 
thereof, and a little glass of sack in the middle of his dinner ; which 
glass of sack he also uses in the morning for his breakfast, with a 
morsel of bread. His supper consists of an egg, and a draught of 
small beer. And by this temperance he finds himself very healthful, 
and may yet live many years, he being now of the age of seventy-three, 
which I pray God from my soul to grant him. 

15. His Recreation and Exercise 

His prime pastime and recreation hath always been the exercise of 
manage and weapons ; which heroic acts he used to practice every 
day ; but I observing that when he had overheated himself, he would 
be apt to take cold, prevailed so far, that at last he left the frequent 
use of the manage, using nevertheless still the exercise of weapons ; 
and though he doth not ride himself so frequently as he hath done, 
yet he takes delight in seeing his horses of manage rid by his escuyers, 
whom he instructs in that art for his own pleasure. But in the art of 
weapons (in which he has a method beyond all that ever were famous 
in it, found out by his own ingenuity and practice) he never taught 



^6 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

anybody but the now Duke of Buckingham,^ whose guardian he hath 
been, and his own two sons. 

The rest of his time he spends in music, poetry, architecture, and 
the like. 

The sixteenth and last section is "Of his Pedigree," which 
the Duchess proudly states goes back to the family of Ger- 
nouns in the time of William the Conqueror. The length 
and detail of this narration shows how important it was to the 
authoress, but for the sake of record we may briefly summarize 
her facts by a diagram, shown on the opposite page. 

The Fourth Book is distinctly inferior to the others, yet at 
the same time it contains some valuable material which one 
would not wish omitted. It consists of " several Essays and 
Discourses Gathered from the Mouth of my noble Lord 
and Husband " and may be roughly divided into two parts. 
The first sixty-three observations tend to be somewhat formal, 
they are introduced by the words " I have heard my Lord say," 
and each commences with a subordinate "that." Fifty-six of 
them, having to do with government, are concise statements 
of ideas expanded in the " Little Book " and will be considered 
in connection with it. The following seven deal with more 
universal qualities of human nature and, as Newcastle was 
not an important original thinker, are of less importance. 
Number LVIII, " That men are apt to find fault with each 
other's actions ; believing they prove themselves wise in find- 
ing fault with their neighbours," is no more platitudinous than 
the average. From the sixty-fourth on, these notes assume a 
familiar tone, as though the Duchess recalled the conditions 
under which each statement was made. Now and then she 
records what she herself said on the occasion and sometimes 
gives the remarks of other participants in the conversation. 

1 Buckingham was brought up with Charles I's sons. See Lady Burghclere's 
George Villiers, p. i8. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CA VENDISHE 77 



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78 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

This enables us to get a good idea of the Duke's already 
vaunted repartee, which, truth to tell, is variable and often 
worse than mediocre. Number LXXIV descends to such 
a commonplace as, " My Lord being in banishment, I told 
him that he was happy in his misfortune, for he was not 
subject to any state or prince. To which he jestingly answered, 
that as he was subject to no prince, so he was a prince of no 
subjects"; but again, as in Number LXXXIII, he strikes 
most palpable fire, " My Lord discoursing some time with 
a learned doctor of divinity concerning faith, said, that in his 
opinion, the wisest way for a man was to have as little faith 
as he could for this world, and as much as he could for the 
next world." 

Frequently in these later paragraphs Newcastle's overwhelm- 
ing loyalty is reiterated, while there are not a few hints that 
he felt hurt by Charles II's aloofness and disregard for serv- 
ices rendered. Certainly when Number LXIX is considered, 
the reason for Newcastle's retirement from London cannot be 
very far to seek : 

I have heard him say several times that his love to his gracious master 
King Charles the Second was above the love he bore to his wife, chil- 
dren, and all his posterity, nay, to his own life : and when, since his 
return into England, I answered him that I observed his gracious 
master did not love him so well as he loved him ; he replied, that he 
cared not whether his Majesty loved him again or not ; for he was 
resolved to love him. 

Despite the Duchess's abominable use of pronouns, the Cava- 
lier's spirit rings out nobly from this paragraph, and Firth well 
parallels it with Butler's lines : ^ 

Loyalty is still the same 
Whether it win or lose the game, 
True as the dial to the sun 
Although it be not shined upon. 

1 Hudibras^ Paft III, Canto 2, 11. 173-177. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 79 

The eighty-fifth and last division consists of an incident which 
emphasizes this same consciousness of neglect, expressed with 
a tang that savors of Wolsey's lines in Henry VIII: 

After my Lord's return from a long banishment, when he had been 
in the country some time and endeavored to pick up some gleanings 
of his ruined estate; it chanced that the widow of Charles, Lord Mans- 
field, my Lord's eldest son, afterwards Duchess of Richmond, to whom 
the said Lord of Mansfield had made a jointure of £ 2000 a year, died 
not long after her second marriage. For whose death, though my 
Lord was heartily sorry, and would willingly have lost the said money, 
had it been able to save her life ; yet discoursing one time merrily 
with his friends was pleased to say, that though his earthly king and 
master seemed to have forgot him, yet the King of Heaven had 
remembered him, for he had given him ^2000 a year. 

Had the Duchess been content to end her work here, she 
would have had a striking if rather trivial conclusion, but to 
the Fourth Part proper we have added " Some Few Notes of 
the Authoresse," which from an artistic point of view are 
utterly destructive. It is extremely typical of Margaret Caven- 
dish, however, to jot down whatever observations occurred to 
her in passing, and the only wonder is that she confined her- 
self to seventeen heads. The first seven exalt her husband, 
as might be expected : in one she compares him with Caesar, 
to the latter 's disadvantage, while in another, Number III, 
she expatiates on his honesty and truthfulness. When some 
of the political shifts of Newcastle's younger days are remem- 
bered, his wife seems to pull a long bow in asserting " that 
my noble Lord has always had an aversion to that kind of 
policy that now is commonly practised in the world, which in 
plain terms is dissembling, flattery, and cheating under the 
cover of honesty, love, and kindness. But I have heard him 
say that the best policy is to act justly, honestly, and wisely, 
and to speak truly ; and that the old proverb is true, ' To be 
wise is to be honest.' " The Duchess's ten final remarks diverge 



8o THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

from the unifying principle of her work and wander off 
into vague generalizations that have nothing at all to do with 
her theme. The Life breaks down into the formless philoso- 
phizing of its authoress's ill-regulated mind, and as it does so 
its value as a work of art consistently decreases. 

Yet, all things considered, this book is Margaret's most 
important contribution to literature, and as literature it should 
be regarded, despite an air of historical veracity. For the 
authoress's purpose was not to chronicle facts, although she 
thought it was, but to put on paper a highly specialized por- 
trait of the Cavalier, par excelletice. She never deliberately 
falsified, for sincerity and frankness were too deeply ingrained 
in her character ; but ignorance of certain facts, suppression of 
others, with the whole seen through hero-worshipping eyes, 
give a total impression far removed from truth. Unity of feel- 
ing resulted in an artistic unity which no other of her writings 
possesses and a lack of which is the chief defect of her 
undoubted genius. Here for once this singleness of tone is 
fortuitously obtained, so that, coupled as it is with her usual 
vivacity and natural naivete, a delightful work of enduring 
art has been created. The Duke of Newcastle as presented 
in this biography might be a personage of fiction in so far 
as the material about him is selected and proportioned. Yet 
at the same time he lives for us as do only the great figures 
in our literature, by virtue of those countless details which were 
actual facts and so convey an impression of life itself. Strangely, 
these minor realities do not distract one's attention from the 
larger significance intended or mar the structural proportion 
of the whole work. If this completed sketch had been faith- 
ful to actual conditions in feeling and atmosphere, it might 
have been safely compared with Boswell on a diminished 
scale, but fine as the total effect is, it must be judged by other 
standards, for it is not true. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 8 1 

A comparison of Clarendon's brilliant and unbiassed descrip- 
tion with almost any important passage from the Life reveals 
this difference at once. The Duchess was looking at a pre- 
conceived situation from a rigidly narrow point of view, she 
interpreted events in accordance with it, and as a result, in 
cases where her knowledge was only second-hand, she felt free 
with her material. It will be recalled that her information for 
the First Book came chiefly from Cavendish's secretary, John 
Rolleston, and in it, as we have seen, history goes far askew.^ 
Most notable are the omissions : there is not a word of New- 
castle's intrigues to get his earlier advancements, of the shortage 
in ammunition that helped to occasion Fairfax's abandonment 
of Tadcaster, of the Royalist defeats following it, of the Queen's 
instrumentality in converting Cholmley, of the failure to win 
over the Hothams and Hutchinson, or of the breach of capit- 
ulation terms at Rotherham, all events tending to decrease 
the Duke's credit. His wife overestimates his levy of soldiers 
in the north, the size of Henrietta Maria's escort to Oxford, 
and the number of prisoners taken at St. Mary's Tower. She 
excuses the breach of the conditions of Gainsborough's capit- 
ulation, emphasizes two vain promises of the Yorkshire people 
that they would raise 10,000 men, and mentions only the un- 
successful sally made by Hull's garrison. Regarding the Scotch 
expedition, she does not say that Newcastle had been several 
times warned of this invasion but would not act, yet takes 
pains to show how his force was weakened by aiding Mont- 
rose. In accordance with her husband's wishes the names of 

1 It is interesting to compare the Duchess's earUer dictum concerning a 
history, which " cannot be exactly true, because there are so many several 
Intentions interwoven with several Accidents ; and several Actions divided 
into so many several Parties and several Places ; and so many several 
Reporters of several Opinions, Partialities, Understandings, Judgments, and 
Memorials, which gave such various relations of one and the same Action, 
that an Historian (being but one Man) cannot possibly know the truth." — 
Nature's Picture, p. 701. 



82 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

various delinquents are not given, but it does not take great 
effort to infer that Newport blundered at Tadcaster, Goring 
foolishly lost Wakefield, a post at York prevented the enemy's 
complete annihilation after Adwalton Moor, and that General 
King was in command when the Earl of Kingston was acci- 
dentally shot. The defeat of Bellasis in Yorkshire is seen to 
be as patently unnecessary as it was detrimental to Newcastle's 
operations against the Scots. In our writer's own words, " It 
is remarkable, that in all actions and undertakings where my 
Lord was in person himself, he was always victorious, and 
prospered in the execution of his designs ; but whatsoever 
was lost or succeeded ill, happened in his absence, and was 
caused either by the treachery or negligence and carelessness 
of his officers." ^ 

When it comes to any problem on which historians are not 
yet agreed, we can be sure to get little satisfaction from the 
Duchess, and therefore we are not surprised to find her 
bigotedly opinionated on the two moot questions in Newcastle's 
career, — was his return north from Lincoln dictated by selfish 
motives ? and was his flight to the continent justified ? Her 
answer to both is for-all practical purposes identical : the king 
can do no wrong. This is not the stuff trustworthy biographers 
are made of, to be sure, and it shows that as an historical 
record the Life must be thrown out of court. Moreover, little 
of what is true in it is important. Such an eminent and 
widely read authority as Professor Firth finds ^ "that 'the 
generous and high born men ' who follow the recommen- 
dation of the Cambridge Senate and study this Life as a 
contribution to military history will find little in it which 
they could not learn more fully and accurately from the 
pages of Rushworth or Whitelock. An occasional incident or 
anecdote, the name of a forgotten officer, or the locality of 

1 Firth p. 41. ^ P- viii. 



THE LIFE OF WILLIAM CAVENDISHE 83 

an obscure skirmish, an account of the Duke's personal share 
in one or two engagements, sum up the amount of its con- 
tributions to the miHtary history of the civil wars." And as 
the First Book contains little else, its value is comparatively 
insignificant. 

The rest of this work is of a different nature, because on a 
sounder and less important historical basis. Events become of 
small account, while the man in whom they centre occupies 
our entire attention. He lives vividly on every page, in his 
constant hope throughout the years of exile, in his efforts to 
live well on credit, his pride in noble horses, his dignity in 
misfortunes, the return to his native country, the almost curt 
dismissal by Charles, and finally the retirement to his country 
seat in an effort to restore a shattered estate. In like manner 
but more personally the authoress tells of his conversation, his 
diet, his family relations, his dress, and his habits, as only by 
years of affectionate association she could have learned to 
know them. Here facts are almost impeccable (save for the 
rhapsodic excuse she offers for the rebuff at Goldsmith's Hall), 
but the spirit behind them tends to obscure trustworthy record. 
The Duchess tells of her husband's expensive horses even as 
she laments his debts and boldly acknowledges being herself 
pawned that he might return home. Yet she never admits a 
doubt as to his motives. These actions which bespeak extrava- 
gance and selfishness are to the devoted wife unavoidable evils 
attendant on his misfortunes. She does not conceive of any 
other interpretation for them and, what is more, nearly per- 
suades the reader by her sincere conviction. As a result the 
idealized portrait of Newcastle which one gets in her book is 
almost nearer fiction than history ; by mere chance it comes to 
have the qualities of art rather than of nature. So successful 
was the Duchess in her method that, when Mrs. Hutchinson 
came to undertake a similar work, she modelled her Memoirs 



84 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

of the Colonel quite directly on the Life} The significance 
in this imitation from our point of view is that, somehow or 
other, the Duchess here stumbled on effective literary devices, 
which were thought worthy to be copied and which have allowed 
the book to survive despite its mediocre historical value. 

It is, then, in this intimate description of a seventeenth- 
century nobleman that the value of her work lies, and if he is 
not drawn in his habit as he lived, there is no reason for a 
critic of literature to complain. The portrait as it stands is 
far more clear, striking, and effective than it would have been 
if all sides of Newcastle's character had been touched upon. 
In consequence it has been enjoyed by a larger public than any 
authoritative chronicle could possibly have attracted. Human 
nature delights in worshipping idols even as it does in follow- 
ing a rake's progress, and upon this universal truth the 
Life of William Cavetidishe depends for its popularity. 
Other writers of that century consciously tried to cloak 
lurid tales with a mantle of reality ; the Duchess of Newcastle 
unknowingly commits as great a deception in foisting upon 
her readers excessive panegyric under the guise of facts. The 
authoress's personality has worked upon these facts and fash- 
ioned them, until their hero emerges as a person of her own 
fertile imagination, yet maintains much that is typical of his 
age, more of his individual character, and something common 
to all time. Her intense loyalty to him was as sincere as that 
which he felt for his King, and together these traits brought 
about her glorified picture of the Duke, the cavalier, the man. 
Its popularity and intrinsic value alike depend not upon the his- 
torical fabric of which it purports to be composed but upon that 
transforming magic of fancy and art which directed the design. 

1 A. H. Upham has pointed this out in Anglia, 1912, XXXVI, 200-220, 
although his accepting 1592 as the year of Newcastle's birth partially throws 
out his argument as to dates of composition. 



CHAPTER II 

"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 

I 

EARLY PATRONAGE (1617-1636) 

No doubt Gerard Langbaine's appreciation of William Cav- 
endish is, like the Duchess's own estimate, largely gross hyper- 
bole, but there is a measure of truth in his assertion that 
"no Person since the Time of Augustus better understood 
Dramatick Poetry, nor more generously encourag'd Poets ; so 
that wef'may truly call him our English Maecenas." ^ At all events 
a nobleman whose interest in letters began with Ben Jonson and 
extended to Shadwell, who was on terms of intimacy with Hobbes, 
Shirley, and Dryden, is not to be disregarded in the history of 
English patronage. Many a dedication both before and after 
Newcastle's exile testifies that he was easy of access to struggling 
authors and generous of his bounty, in evil times as well as in 
prosperity. Money could always be found for his fine horses on 
the Continent, and after coming home he could never bring 
himself to turn away a needy writer. Dabbling in literature was 
one of the Duke's passions, and one he ceaselessly indulged. 
Perhaps he realized how very mediocre his own creative talents 
were and resolved by way of compensation inextricably to entangle 
his literary reputation with the names of his great contemporaries, 
believing with one whom he would have delighted to honor, 

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, 
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.^ 

1 An Account of the Dramatick Poets, 1691, p. 386. 
^ Shakespeare, Sonnet XVIII. 

85 



86 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Cavendish's youth showed no tendency towards learning 
except his early proficiency in French, a necessary part of 
every fine gentleman's equipment ; in general the boy cared 
little for any activity which required perseverance and applica- 
tion. It is small wonder, then, that he took no interest in 
books until after his education had been completed and all 
compulsion relating to studies had been removed. An easy 
enjoyment of art was more congenial to him, as his early pur- 
chase of a "singing-boy" bears witness. His travels abroad 
with Sir Henry Wotton must have done much to foster the 
growth of his aesthetic taste, and life at Charles I's court may 
well have taught him that every man of the world was expected 
to be a man of letters as well. Certainly one way or another 
Cavendish managed to assimilate the old Elizabethan attitude 
towards literature and to carry it, comparatively untouched, 
down to the other times and manners of the Restoration. His 
long life, spanning as it does the mid-seventeenth century, 
helps to illustrate changing conditions and ideals within that 
period. 

Rare Ben Jonson was the first author to come into close 
relations with Newcastle, Their connection must have begun 
as early as 1617, for on April 4 of that year Sir Charles 
Cavendish died and the poet, now at the height of his career 
as literary dictator, composed his epitaph. In it the dead man 
addresses " his posterity " : ^ 

Sons, seek not me among these polished stones, 
These only hide part of my flesh and bones, 
Which, did they e'er so neat and proudly dwell, 
Will all turn dust and may not make me swell. 
Let such as justly have outlived all praise, 
Trust in the tombs, their careful friends do raise ; 
I made my Life my monument, and yours, 
Than which there 's no material more endures, 

1 Ben Jonson's Works, ed. GifEord-Cunningham, 1875, I^> 324- 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 87 

Nor yet inscription like it writ but that ; 
And teach your nephews it to emulate : 
It will be matter loud enough to tell 
Not when I died, but how I lived — farewell. 

These verses were doubtless written before Jonson's walking 
trip to Scotland in 1618-1619; and shortly after his return 
he composed an interlude for the christening of Sir William's 
eldest son.i Prince Charles deigned to bestow his own name 
on the baby, and consequently every preparation was made at 
the house in Black Friars to honor his presence. No evidence 
exists that King James was there as Gifford states ; in fact 
that seems very improbable, since the interlude contains fre- 
quent compliments for Charles but no mention at all of his 
father. It commences with the speech of a Forester, who calls 
attention to the table laden with sweetmeats representing a 
hunting scene, and continues with the appearance of three 
gossips whose unrestrained chatter furnishes the backbone of 
this entertainment. Duggs, the wet nurse, and Kecks, the 
dry nurse, contend as to the importance of their respective 
functions, while Holdback, the midwife, vaunts her ability in 
foreknowing the sex of a child. A Mathematician, i.e. an 
astrologer, prophesies all good things for the boy and at the 
same time contrives to flatter the noble guest. Finally, the Water- 
men of Black Friars are introduced with a rollicking song : 

They say it is merry when gossips do meet, 

And more to confirm it, in us you may see 't, 

For we have well tasted the wine in the street, 

And yet we make shift to stand on our feet. 

As soon as we heard the Prince would be here, 

We knew by his coming we should have good cheer ; 

A boy for my lady ! then every year. 

Cry we — for a girl will afford us but beer : 



1 Jonson, IX, 327-336. 



88 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

That we may say 
Another day 
My Lord be thanked 
We had such a banquet 
At Charles' christening 
Was worth tlie listening, 
After a year 
And a day, for I fear 
We shall not see 
The like will be. 
To sample he, 
While working the Thames 
Unless 't be a James. 

In 1625 occurred the death of Lady Jane Ogle, Cavendish's 
aunt, the widow of Edward, eighth Earl of Shrewsbury, and for her 
Jonson wrote an epitaph.^ The substance of it is that every tablet 
in the church offers the usual compliments to its deceased, but 
hers is unique in truthfully stating that after the Earl's decease she 
no longer wished to live. When her sister Catharine, Cavendish's 
mother, died four years later, Ben wrote no less than three poems 
in her memory .^ The most pretentious and most successful runs : 

She was the light (without reflex 
Upon herself) of all her sex. 
The best of women ! — Her whole life 
Was the example of a wife, 
' Or of a parent, or a friend ! 

All circles had their spring and end 
In her, and what could perfect be 
And without angles, IT WAS SHE.— 

All that was solid in the name 
Of virtue ; precious in the frame. 
Or else magnetic in the force. 
Or sweet, or various, in the course : 
What was proportion, or could be 
By warrant called just symmetry 
In number, measure or degree 
Of weight or fashion, IT WAS SHE.— 

1 Jonson, IX, 326. ^ ibid., IX, 324-326. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 89 

Her soul possest her flesh's state 
In freehold, not as an inmate ; 
And when the flesh here shut up day, 
Fame's heat upon the grave did stay, 
And hourly brooding o'er the same, 
Keeps warm the spice of her good name, 
Until the ashes turned be 
Into a Phoenix — WHICH IS SHE. 

Best of all this poet's work in connection with the Cavendish 
family are the two epigrams he wrote upon William himself. 
They are to be found in Underwoods and, purposely no doubt, 
deal with two of the Earl's accomplishments in which he 
realized his own excellence, — fencing and horsemanship : 1 

They talk of fencing, and the use of arms, 

The art of urging and avoiding harms, 

The noble science, and the mastering skill 

Of making just approaches how to kill ; 

To hit in angles and to clash with time : 

As all defence or offence were a chime ! 

I hate such measured, give me mettled, fire, 

That trembles in the blaze, but then mounts higher ! 

A quick and dazzling motion ; when a pair 

Of bodies meet like rarefied air ! 

Their weapons darted with that flame and force. 

As they out-did the lightning in the course ; 

This were a spectacle, a sight to draw 

Wonder to valour ! No, it is the law 

Of daring not to do a wrong ; 't is true 

Valour to slight it, being done to you. 

To know the heads of danger, where 't is fit 

To bend, to break, provoke or suffer it ; 

All this, my lord, is valour : this is yours, 

And was your father's, all your ancestors ! 

Who durst live great 'mongst all the colds and heats 

Of human life ; as all the frosts and sweats 

Of fortune, when or death appear'd or bands : 

And valiant were, with or without their hands. 

1 Jonson, IX, 15-16. 



90 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

In the other epigram, deaUng with Newcastle's pet hobby, 
Jonson rises to the occasion and fairly outdoes himself : ^ 

When first my lord, I saw you back your horse, 
Provoke his mettle and command his force 
To all the uses of the field and race, 
Methought I read the ancient art of Thrace, 
And saw a centaur, past those tales of Greece, 
So seem'd your horse and you both of a piece ! 
You shew'd like Perseus upon Pegasus, 
Or Castor mounted on his Cyllarus ; 
Or what we hear our home-born legend tell. 
Of bold Sir Bevis and his Arundel ; 
Nay, so your seat his beauties did endorse. 
As I began to wish myself a horse : ^ 
And surely, had I but your stable seen 
Before, I think my wish absolv'd had been. 
For never saw I yet the Muses dwell. 
Nor any of their household, half so well. 
So well, as when I saw the floor and room, 
I look'd for Hercules to be the groom ; 
And cried, Away with the Caesarian bread ! 
At these immortal mangers Virgil fed. 

Just what remuneration the poet obtained for all these labors 
we do not know, and in the days of his prosperity it mattered 
very little. By 1629, however, after his quarrel with Inigo 
Jones and the failure of The New Inn, things had sunk to a 
low ebb with Ben. They were made worse in 163 1, when on 
September 19 the City withdrew his fees as chronologer, as 
he announced to Newcastle in a famous, characteristic phrase : ^ 
"' Yesterday the barbarous Court of Aldermen have withdrawn 

^ Jonson, VIII, 427-428. 

2 Compare Sir Philip Sidney's comment on John Pietro Pugliano's praise 
of horsemanship : " If I had not beene a peace of a Logician before I came 
to him, I think he would have perswaded mee to have wished my selfe a 
horse." — Apologie for Poetrie, ed. E. Arber, 1912, p. 19. 

8 See Masson's Milton, I, 391 ; and Ward's English Dramatic Literature, 
II, 320. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 91 

their chanderly pension for verjuice and mustard, jCss 6s. 8d." 
Naturally this letter contained a petition for relief ^ and a more 
imperative note followed in the next spring : ^ 

My noblest Lord and best Patron, 

I send no borrowing epistle to provoke your lordship, for I have 
neither fortune to repay, nor security to engage, that will be taken ; 
but I make a most humble petition to your lordship's bounty to 
succour my present necessities this good time of Easter, and it shall 
conclude all begging requests hereafter on behalf 

of your truest beadsman and 

most thankful servant, 

B.J. 

Newcastle most certainly responded, for it is evident that he 
and Jonson were on intimate terms in the ensuing years. On 
February 4, 1632, Ben says that he is reluctantly obeying his 
patron's request to forward^ "a packet of my own praises; 
which I should not have done if I had any stock of modesty 
in store : — but ' obedience is better than sacrifice,' — and you 
command it." Again the poet sent Cavendish part of a book 
which cannot now be identified, apologizing for its fragmentary 
condition : ^ 

It is the lewd printer's fault that I can send your lordship no more 
of my book. I sent you one piece before the fair by Mr. Witherington, 
and now I send you this other morsel. The fine gentleman that walks 
the town ; the Fiend ; but before he will perfect the rest, I fear, he 
will come himself to be a part under the title of the absolute knave, 
which he hath played with me. 

My printer and I shall afford subject enough for a tragi-comedy ; for 
with his delays and vexation, I am almost become blind ; and if heaven 
be so just, in the metamorphosis to turn him into that creature which 
he most resembles, a dog with a bell to lead me between Whitehall 
and my lodging, I may bid the world good night. 

And so I do. 

Ben Jonson. 

^ Jonson, I, cxxxiii. 2 ibid., cxxxiv, from Harleian Ms. 4g5S. 

^ Ibid., cxxxv. * Ibid., cxxxviii, from Harleian Ms. 4g^J. 



92 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Nor was the regard all on one side, as is so often the case in 
such a relationship. Newcastle was wise enough to see the 
poet's real greatness ; in fact, like so many of the "sons of Ben," 
he was rather inclined to magnify it. "I never," says the 
Duchess in her CCXI Sociable Letters, " I never heard any 
man read well but my husband ; and I have heard him say, 
he never heard any man read well but B. J. ; and yet he hath 
heard many in his time." ^ 

Naturally enough, when King Charles was to be entertained 
at Welbeck in the spring of 1633, Jonson was employed to 
write the masque for that occasion. Love's Welcome. TJie 
Kings Entertaitiment at Welbeck, i7i Nottinghamshire is a 
very slight work, but it served its purpose not unsuccessfully,^ 
though M. Montegut writes of it, " La chaleur et la clartd 
manquent et ce masque qui dans des temps meilleurs lui eut ete 
une occasion de se surpasser est la plus faible de ses oeuvres."^ 
" Master A. B. C. Accidence, school-master of Mansfield," and 
" father Fitz-Ale, herald of Derby," are the chief interlocutors, 
and the action concerns the marriage of Fitz-Ale 's daughter 
Pem to Stub, a yeoman of that county. In honor of his wed- 
ding he has challenged the neighbors to run a course at quin- 
tain, and six of them accept, attired respectively in red, green, 
blue, tawny, motley, and russet hoods. These contestants ride 
with varying luck, but considerable skill must have been shown 
by the losers as well as by the successful competitors. At all 
events, Charles was pleased with the entertainment, as he had 
every reason to be, since his host spared neither cost nor pains 
in preparing it. Clarendon remarks^ that this "would still be 
thought very prodigious if the same noble person had not within 
a year or two afterwards, made the King and Queen a more 

1 Letter CCXXIII. 

2 Jonson, VIII, 1 17-130. 

3 La Duchesse et le Due de N'ewcastle in Le Marichal Davoiit, 1895. 
* Book I, § 167. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 93 

stupendous entertainment ; which (God be thanked), though 
possibly it might too much whet the appetite of others to 
excess, no man ever after imitated." 

Jonson wrote the masque for this second visit also.^ In it 
two quarrelHng cupids, Eros and Anteros, are reconciled by the 
peaceful atmosphere prevailing about the King and Queen, 
but a more interesting episode is that in which the author 
keenly satirizes his old enemy, Inigo Jones : 

Enter Coronel Vitruvius, speaking to some without. 
Vit. Come forth, boldly put forth, in your holiday clothes, every 
mother's son of you. This is the king and queen's majestical holiday. 
My lord has it granted from them ; I had it granted from my lord ; 
and do give it unto you gratis, that is bona fide, with the faith of a 
surveyor, your coronel Vitruvius. Do you know what a surveyor is 
now ? I tell you, a supervisor. A hard word that : but it may be 
softened, and brought in to signify something. An overseer ! one that 
overseeth you. A busy man ! and yet I must seem busier than I am, 
as the poet sings, but which of them, I will not now trouble myself 
to tell you.'^ 

Various mechanics come in, whom Vitruvius orders about, and 
when they begin to dance, he cries out : 

Well done, my musical, arithmetical, geometrical gamesters ! or rather 
my true mathematical boys ! it is carried in number, weight and measure, 
as if the airs were all harmony, and the figures a well-timed pro- 
portion ! I cry still, deserve holidays, and have 'em. I'll have a whole 
quarter of the year cut out for you in holidays, and laced with statute- 
tunes and dances, fitted to the activity of your tressels to which you 
shall trust, lads, in the name of your Iniquo Vitruvius. 

Whatever else it may have lost, Jonson's pen was not without 
its gall in his old age. 

1 Jonson, VIII, 131-140. M. Montegut says, " Cette oeuvre trahit encore 
plus que la precedente I'essouflement de la verve. Mais elle est moins obscure 
et va droit a son but par des moyens plus naturels." 

2 Swinburne observes that Jonson " is as ready with a quotation from 
Chaucer as Goody Polish in The Magnetic Lady or Lovel in The JVezo Inn." 
— A Study of Ben Jottson, pp. 85-86. 



94 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

This work certainly did not go unrewarded, as we have 
Ben's letter of thanks for the bounty which must have meant 
so much to him in those needy last years : ^ 

My noble Lord, and my best Patron, 

I have done the business your lordship trusted me with ; and the 
morning after I received by my beloved friend, master Payne, your 
lordship's timely gratuity — I style it such, for it fell like the dew of 
heaven on my necessities — I pray to God my work may have deserved 
it ; I meant it should in the working it, and I have hope the perform- 
ance will conclude it. In the mean time, I tell your lordship what I 
seriously think — God sends you these chargeable and magnificent 
honours of making feasts, to mix with your charitable succours, dropt 
upon me your servant ; who have nothing to claim of merit but a 
cheerful undertaking whatsoever your lordship's judgment thinks me 
able to perform. I am in the number of your humblest servants, my 
lord, and the most willing ; and do joy in the good friendship and 
fellowship of my right learned friend, master Payne, than whom your 
lordship could not have employed a more diligent and judicious man, 
or that hath treated me with more humanity ; which makes me cheer- 
fully to insert myself into your lordship's commands, and so sure a 
clientele. Wholly and only your lordship's 

Ben Jonson. 

Among all Cavendish's proteges none is more pathetic than 
this once prosperous author, his proud head now bowed in 
servility as the price of a rich man's munificence. 

By this time Newcastle's open-handedness must have been 
common knowledge, for in 1634, the year of the Bolsover enter- 
tainment, John Ford dedicated to him that remarkable play. 
The Chronicle Historic of Pcrkin Warbcck. It is evident from 
the style of this address that he of the " folded arms and melan- 
choly hat " had as yet received no favors from Cavendish but 
was merely making an effort to gain the nobleman's attention:^ 

Eminent titles may, indeed, inform ivho their owners are, not often 
what. To yours the addition of that information in both cannot in 
any application be observed flattery, the authority being established by 

1 Jonson, I, cxxxix-cxl. "^ Ford's Works, ed. Gifford-Dyce, II, 112. 



"OUR ENGLISH MAECENAS" 95 

truth. I can only acknowledge the errors in writing mine own ; the 
worthiness of the subject written being a perfection in the story and 
of it. The custom of your lordship's entertainments — even to strangers 
— is rather an example than a fashion : in which consideration I dare 
not profess a curiosity ; but am only studious that your lordship will 
please, amongst such as best honour your goodness, to admit into 
your noble construction John Ford. 

That philosophy as well as literature interested Newcastle, 
his friendship with Thomas Hobbes bears witness. The first 
we hear of this relationship is in a letter from the philosopher 
dated January 26, 1633-1634, and during the three years that 
followed he frequently wrote to Welbeck, Hobbes was at this 
time tutor to the young Earl of Devonshire (also a William 
Cavendish, and cousin to our hero), with whom he later made 
an extended tour on the Continent. He writes : ^ 

My first businesse in London, was to seeke for Galileo's Dialogues ; 
I thought it a very good bargain, when at taking my leave of your 
Lordship I undertooke to buy it for you, but if your Lordship should 
bind me to performance it would be bad enough, for it is not possible 
to get it for money. There were but few brought over at first and they 
that buy such bookes, are not such men as to part with them againe. 
I heare say it is called in, in Italy, as a booke that will do more hurt 
to their religion then all the bookes have done of Luther and Calvin, 
such opposition they thinke is between their religion and naturall 
reason. I doubt not but the translation of it will here be publiquely 
embraced, and therefore wish extremely that Dr. Webbe would hasten 
it. There is no news at Court but of maskes, which is a stay to my 
Lords going to Oxford because he is one of the maskers, which I am 
glad of for this cause, that I shall have the more time for the business 
I have so long owed to your Lordship, whose continual favors make 
me ashamed of my dull proceedings, savinge that into the number of 
these favours I put your Lordship's patience and forbearance of me. 

On August 25, 1635, Hobbes writes at some length from 
Paris.2 He begins by thanking Newcastle for a gift, but with 
a finer spirit than is noticeable in many dependents : 

1 Welbeck Mss., II, 124. 2 ibjd., H, 125-126. 



96 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

If the world saw my little desert, so plainely as they see your great 
rewards, they might thinke me a mountibancke and that all that I do 
or would do, were in the hope of what I receave. I hope your Lord- 
ship does not think so, at least let me tell your Lordship once for all, 
that though I honour you as my Lord, yet my love to you is just of 
the same nature that it is to Mr. Payne, bred out of private talke, 
without respect to your purse. 

Then follows some news of a horse called Le Superbe, which 
may be coupled with Hobbes's pamphlet entitled " Considera- 
tions touching the facility or Difficulty of the Motions of a 
Horse on streight lines, & Circular," ^ to show that the phi- 
losopher had some slight knowledge of horsemanship. His 
letter goes on to cast grave doubts upon the pretensions of a 
Mr. Warner, who claims that he has invented a multiplying 
glass and a burning glass of infinite strength ; even if the 
theories be correct, says Hobbes, it may be impracticable and 
hence useless. Evidently he distrusted the Earl's excessive 
generosity, for he adds : 

I hope your Lordship will not bestow too much upon the hopes; 
but suffer the liberall sciences to be liberall, and after some worthy 
effort your Lordship then may be liberall also, as I doubt not but 
you will. 

Finally, some of the writer's own early ambitions peep out 
from this advice concerning Warner : 

For the soule I know he has nothing to give your Lordship any 
satisfaction. I would he could give good reasons for the facultyes and 
passions of the soule, such as may be expressed in playne English, if 
he can, he is the first — that I ever heard of — could speake sense in 
that subject. If he cannot, I hope to be the first. 

By June 13, 1636, the travellers, after many months in 
Italy, were at Paris again, where the tutor seems to have 
chafed under his pupil's continuous activity : ^ 

1 Preserved in the library at Welbeck. See S. A. Strong's Catalogue, where 
it is reprinted, p. 237. 2 Welbeck Mss., II, 128. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 97 

Wee are unsettled, I have no time — for going up and downe with 
my Lord — neyther for myself, nor for Mydorgius, nor for bookes. 
All I study is a Nights, and that for a Uttle while is the reading of 
certayne new bookes, especially Mr. Seldens RIare Clatisum and a 
booke of my Lord of Castle Islands concerning truth, which is a 
high point.^ 

On July 29 he proclaims the uncertainty of all science : ^ 

In thinges that are not demonstrable, of which kind is the greatest 
part of naturall philosophy, as dependinge upon the motion of bodies 
so subtile as they are invisible, such as are ayre and spirits, the most 
that can be atteyned unto is to have such opinions, as no certayne 
experience can confute, and from which can be deduced by lawfull 
argumentation, no absurdity, and such are your Lordship's opinions 
in your letter of the 3rd of July which I had the honour to receave the 
last weeke ; namely. That the variety of thinges is but variety of locall 
motion in the spirits or invisible partes of bodies. And that such 
motion is heate. 

He goes on to attack Warner again, this time criticizing his 
tract on the place of the image in concave or convex glasses 
and suggesting other explanations to account for the phenomena. 
The conclusion apparently refers to Cavendish's disappointed 
office-seeking : 

I am sorry your Lordship finds not so good dealing in the world as 
you deserve. But my Lord, he that will venture to sea must resolve 
to endure all weather, but for my part I love to keepe a'land. And it 
may be your Lordship now will do so to, whereby I may have the 
happinesse which your Lordship partly promises me in the end of 
your letter, to conferre meditations for a good time together, which 
will be not onely honour to me, but that happinesse which I and all 
that are in love with knowledge, use to fancy to themselves for the 
true happinesse in this life. 

The letter of October 16 is written from Byfleet,^ "which 
is the period of my Lords travel but not of mine. For 
though my Lady and my Lord do both accept so well of my 

1 Lord Herbert of Cherbury's De Veritate. 

2 Welbeck Mss., II, 128-129. 3 ibid., II, 129-130. 



98 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

service, as I could almost engage my self to serve them as a 
domestique all my life, yet the extreame pleasure I take in 
study, overcomes in me all other appetites. I am not willing 
to leave my Lord, so as not to do him any service that he 
thinkes may not so well be done by another ; but I must not 
deny my selfe the content to study in the way I have begun, 
and that I cannot conceave I shall do anywhere so well as at 
Welbecke, and therefore I meane if your Lordship forbid me 
not, to come thither as soone as I can, and stay as long as I 
can without inconvenience to your Lordship." The rest of 
this epistle is a treatise on the inverted position of an object 
shown on white paper when the light has passed through a 
hole ; truly no subject was too complicated or too insignificant 
to occupy the mind of Thomas Hobbes. The last letters ^ 
of this series reiterate acknowledgments for favors received 
and plans for coming soon to visit the Earl : "I expect now 
onely a safe time of travelling to come to wayte upon your 
Lordship at Welbeck — the sicknesse now decreasinge — 
I hope may be within little more then a moneth." 

It is doubtful whether the visit ever took place. Newcastle 
was at this time entangled in court politics. He soon obtained 
the long-coveted appointment as governor to Prince Charles, 
and from then until after Marston Moor his active life allowed 
small leisure for contemplation. The truth is, that this interest 
in philosophy and science, although not confined to his asso- 
ciation with Hobbes,^ was, like his other activities, only a 
pastime. When nothing more important came to hand, the 
Earl no doubt felt a genuine curiosity in the fundamental 
principles of human nature and in the system of society to be 



1 Welbeck Mss., II, 130. 

2 See a letter to him from Matthew Boucherett on certain mineral waters, 
Welbeck Mss., II, 131 ; and his " Opinion" added to the 1663 edition of Philo- 
sophical and Physical Opinions. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS" 99 

built upon them, as Hobbes tells us in his dedication ^ to TJie 
Elements of Law, Natural and Politique. Nevertheless Caven- 
dish was incapable of giving himself up wholeheartedly to that 
or any other project. For the next few years public life was 
to engross all his energies ; yet, when in Paris he again encoun- 
tered Hobbes's tremendous personality, they easily slipped back 
into their former relationship. But of that more in its place. 
Meanwhile, the art of painting was receiving Newcastle's 
patronage. We have a letter written by him to Sir Anthony 
Van Dyck in February, 1636-1637, which shows his intimate 
acquaintance with that fashionable artist : ^ 

The favours of my friends you have so transmitted unto me as the 
longer I looke on them the more I think them nature and not art. 
It is not my error alone. If it be a disease, it is epidemical, for such 
power hath your hand on the eyes of mankind. Next the blessing of 
your company and sweetness of conversation, the greatest blessing 
were to be an Argus or all over but one eye, so it or they were ever 
fixed upon that which we must call yours. What wants in judgment, 
I can supply with admiration, and scape the title of ignorance since I 
have the luck to be astonished in the right place, and the happiness 
to be passionately your humble servant. 

That the nobleman sporadically continued this enthusiasm for 
pictorial art may be imagined well. In Antwerp he and his 
wife often had their portraits painted by Abraham Diepenbeck, 
and they lived in a house which belonged to the widow of that 
artist's master, "a famous picture-drawer, Van Ruben." ^ 

Newcastle seems to have patronized also a minor poet named 
William Sampson,^ for in 1636 that author addressed to him 
the opening lines of Virtns post Funera vivit, or Honour 
Tryumphing over Death, being true Epitomes of Honorable, 

1 Dated May 9, 1640, but the book was not published until 1650 and then 
broken up into two parts. 

2 Welbeck Mss., II, 131. 

* The Duchess's Life of her husband, ed. Firth, p. 50. 

* The article on William Sampson in Diet. Nat. Biog. 



lOO THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Noble, Learned, mid Hospitable Personages. The Cavendishes 
fare exceedingly well in this work, which is dedicated in prose 
to Christian, dowager Countess of Devon, and in verse to 
Charles, Viscount Mansfield, Newcastle's elder son ; Elizabeth 
Talbot, the Earl's grandmother, and William, Earl of Devon, 
are among the thirty-two persons commemorated in heroic 
couplets. There is likewise extant an unprinted poem by 
Sampson, inscribed to Margaret Cavendish, Marchioness of 
Newcastle, and entitled Love' s Metamorphosis, or Apollo and 
DapJme} Sampson was a yeoman's son and by profession a 
serving man, so that his deference seems quite natural. It is 
only to be wondered at that he did not earlier attempt to 
interest Cavendish in certain plays of his, which are now 
better known than his poetry. 

II 

PATRONAGE IN PROSPERITY (1636-1644) 

Among the more prominent dramatists associated with 
Newcastle was James Shirley, who, like Ford, first attracted 
his patron's notice by dedicating a play to him. In 1635 The 
Traitor was published, upon presenting which the author wrote : 

My Lord, 

The honour of your name, and clearness of soul, which want no liv- 
ing monuments in the heart of princes, have already made the title of 
this poem innocent, though not the author ; who confesseth his guilt 
of a long ambition, by some service to be known to you, and his bold- 
ness at last, by this rude attempt to kiss your Lordship's hands. 

This application was evidently successful, for we soon find the 
two men on familiar terms. Wood in his Athence Oxonienses 

'^ Harleian Ms. dg^y (Nos. 41 ff., 318-336) in Diet. Nat. Biog., article on 
William Sampson. The first line runs, " Scarce had Aurora showne her 
crimson face." 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " loi 

says of Shirley that "when the rebelHon broke out, and he 
thereupon forced to leave London, and so consequently his 
wife and children (who afterwards were put to their shifts) he 
was invited by his most noble patron William, earl (afterwards 
marquess and duke) of Newcastle to take his fortune with him 
in the wars, for that count had engaged him so much by his 
generous liberality towards him, that he thought he could not 
do a worthier act, than to serve him and so consequently his 
prince." The only extraneous confirmation this fact receives 
is to be found in the last stanza of Shirley's song To Odelia} 
but the testimony seems circumstantial enough : ^ 

Cherish that heart, Odelia, that is mine, 

And if the north thou fear, 

Dispatch but from thy southern clime 

A sigh, to warm thine here ; 

But be so kind 
To send by the next wind, 
'Tis far, 
And many accidents do wait on war. 

Among Shirley's miscellaneous poems there is also one 
to Newcastle himself, which could not have been written 
before 1642 : ^ 

Hail, great preserver of the king, 
And your own honour ! Such a thing 
At court but rare appears ; 
And when in calmer years 
So much virtue, so much crime 
Shall be read both at one time. 
Treason shall want a child, and, your worth known, 
Posterity shall thank the kingdom's groan. 

^ Shirley's Works, ed. Dyce, II, 408. 

^ Nason \r\ fames Shirley, Dramatist, p. 137, thinks this is purely Cavalier 
lyric convention, but it sounds rather too specific for that. 
8 Shirley, II, 435. 



I02 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

When I before did fancy men 
Of a most glorious soul, my pen 
Did prophesy of you 
To whom so much is due 
That each patriot must rise 
To court you with a sacrifice, 
And boldest writers telling ages why, 
Need fear no fiction in their poetry. 

Great both in peace and war, thus fame 
Did honour Sidney ; on your name 
Two laurels grow, and they 
That speak them both, may say, 
Thus the fluent Ovid wrote. 
And thus, too, wise Caesar fought, 
For when your story shall be perfect, you 
May both deserve, and have their envies too. 

Wood further states that " our author Shirley did also much 
assist his generous patron William duke of Newcastle in the 
composure of certain plays, which the duke afterwards pub- 
lished," and this has been conclusively proved in the case of 
at least one, The Country Captain. Dyce was the first to point 
out that the song at the beginning of Act IV, "Come let us 
throw the dice," ^ occurs as a sort of rebus among Shirley's 
poems, but there is evidence still more striking. In 1883 
Mr. A. H. Bullen published in the second volume of his 
Collection of Old English Plays an anonymous and unnamed 
comedy which he had found in the Harleian Manuscript 'j6^0? 
He followed Halliwell {Dictiotiary of Old English Plays'^) 
in calling it Captain Underwit and attributed it to James 
Shirley, saying : 

In the notes I have pointed out several parallelisms to passages in 
Shirley's plays; and occasionally we find actual repetitions, word for 
word. But apart from these strong proofs, it would be plain from 

1 Dyce's Introduction to Shirley's Works, pp. xlii-xliii, and VI, 439. 

2 Bullen, Old English Plays, II, 315-316. » P. 42. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 103 

internal evidence that the present piece is a domestic comec'y of 
Shirley's, written in close imitation of Ben Jonson. All the characters 
are old acquaintances. Sir Richard Huntlove, who longs to be among 
his own tenants and eat his own beef in the country ; his lady, who 
loves the pleasures of the town, balls in the Strand, and masques ; 
Device, the fantastic gallant, — these are well-known figures in Shirley's 
plays. No other playwright of that day could have given us such 
exquisite poetry as we find in " Captain Underwit." The briskness, 
too, and cleverness of the dialogue closely recall Shirley. 

Now the remarkable thing about this higher criticism of 
Mr. Bullen's is that the play under consideration is Newcastle's 
Country Captain. In all essentials the two works are identical 
and their differences only show that the manuscript preserves 
its original form, which, with the cuts and additions suggested 
in acting, gives the printed version. Many lines are omitted,^ 
long speeches are broken up by ejaculations from the other 
characters,^ additional coarseness is injected,^ and there are 
one or two rearrangements of material.^ In a word, all variants 

1 The CouTitry Captain omits the whole interview between Sir Richard, 
the Captain, and Engine in Act V {Captain Unde7-wit, pp. 408-409) and all 
mention of the latter at the final curtain {Captain Underwit, p. 415); in Act IV 
some fifteen short speeches are left out of the drunken scene ( Captain Under- 
wit, pp. 378-379), and Thomas's part receives curtailment both here and 
in the first two acts {Captain Undenvit, pp.381, 322, 338) ; the scornful dia- 
logue between Courtwell and the sister is somewhat cut {Captain Underwit, 
pp. 382-383). 

2 Sir Richard's long disquisition on the pleasures of the country is inter- 
rupted in the printed play by interjections of the Lady's, " Soe Sir," " You are 
pleasant. Sir," which would naturally tend to relieve monotony {Country 
Captain, pp. 8-9; Captain Undetivit, pp. 324-325). 

8 Device's satirical utterance on these same country pleasures is further 
spiced to gain the plaudits of an audience {Country Captain, p. 15; Captaift 
Underwit, p. 332). 

* Sir Francis does not tell Engine he knows him, when announcing that a 
man of that name is to be hanged, and thereby makes the situation much more 
amusing {Captaitt Uidenuit, p. 354). Act IV not only includes the dicing 
song, mentioned in the text, but has incorporated in it a drunken scene with 
musicians which appeared at the end of the earlier copy but which Bullen 
placed at the very beginning of this act {Country Captain, pp. 58-61 ; Cap- 
tain Underwit, pp- 373-376). 



I04 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

from the original version were made for dramatic effect, and 
some practical man of the theatre may be held responsible 
for them. 

That Shirley had a large share in the earlier form of The 
Cotmtry Captain is quite indisputable after the evidence 
brought forward by Bullen, and more recently by Dr. R. S. 
Forsythe in The Relations of Shirley s Plays to the Eliza- 
bethan Drama. Each of the strands in its triple plot has an 
analogue in Shirley's acknowledged plays : ^ Lady Huntlove's 
dangerous intrigue with Sir Francis Courtwell and subsequent 
reconciliation with her husband is the story of Sir Thomas 
and Lady Bornwell in The Lady of Pleasure ; Master Court- 
well's jeering wooing of the Sister resembles that of Carol by 
Fairchild in Hyde Park ; while the waiting maid Dorothy's 
deception of Captain Underwit comes from the similar trick 
played on Sir Nicholas Treedle by Sensible in The Witty 
Fair 07te. The foolish servant Thomas falls naturally into 
place with Treedle's Tutor, and Device draws his affectations 
through Caperwit of Love in a Maze from their common 
progenitor. Master Matthew of Every Man hi His Humour. 
Indeed, the Jonsonian influence runs throughout this whole 
drama, although often turned into unaccustomed channels by 
the leaven of Shirley's romantic manner, which cannot con- 
ceal that the humor of Underwit is that of Master Stephen, 
that Captain Sackbury is a lesser Bobadill, and that the very 
name of Engine suggests the projector Meercraft's assistant 
in The Devil is an Ass!^ Engine's proposed monopoly of 
periwigs^ is thought by KoeppeH to be copied from Brome's 
Court Beggar^ as it may be, but in the last analysis both 

1 Forsythe, p. 424. 

2 M. Kerr's The Influence of Ben Jonson on English Comedy, pp. 112-117. 

3 Bullen, p. 354. 

■* Ben JonsoJt's Wirkung, p. 179. 
^ Act I, scene i, Works, I, 192. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 105 

situations go back to father Ben's inventive genius. The Jon- 
sonian touches are no doubt due to Newcastle's loyal sonship, 
but these are greatly in the minority and it is Shirley who 
really directs The Country Captaiiis progress. Its conclusion 
sees the two unsuccessful sinners, Sir Francis Courtwell and 
Lady Huntlove, forswear all further evil intentions with a 
fervor that would do justice to sentimental comedy, but with 
that lack of sincerity which distinguishes Shirley's numerous ^ 
and superficial conversions. 

Not only does the general course of the plot suggest this 
dramatist's workmanship but specific resemblances to his 
authentic plays abound. Forsythe has pointed out^ that the 
law- French^ suggests Shirley's hand, that the intriguer's 
efforts to gain a rendezvous are not unlike Fowler's pre- 
tended sickness in The Witty Fair One,^ and that the latter's 
mock praise of Penelope's charms^ parallels Master Court- 
well's irony to the Sister.^ He also comments significantly 
on the word " rotten," '^ occurring in The Humorous Courtier 
(III, i) and The Constant Maid (III, 2), with the meaning 
" to have by heart," for which Bullen mistakenly conjectured 
" rooted." Bullen himself noted that Device's allusion to the 
scholar authors who refuse to take money for their work is 
repeated by Treedle in The Witty Fair One (IV, 2),^ and 
that the Sister's parody on Master Courtwell 's ornate speech 
runs in the vein of Celestina's rebuff to Lord A in The 
Lady of Pleasure (V, i).^ In The Duke's Mistress (IV, i) 
appear the lines, 

You shall lead destiny in cords of silk, 

And it shall follow tame and to your pleasure, 

1 Forsythe, pp. 58, 71. ^ Bullen, p. 383. 

2 Pp. 426-428. 7 Ibid., p. 366. 

* Bullen, p. 351. * Ibid., p. 330. 

* Act III, scene iv. ^ Ibid., p. 350. 
5 Act I, scene iii. 



io6 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

which may be compared with The Country Captains 

We will make lawes to love ; teach him new motion 
Or chaine him with the cordage of his haire.^ 

What is more, Bullen has discovered one line which appears 
identically in The Bird in a Cage (IV, i) i^ 

She and the horse 
That snorts at Spam by an instinct of nature 
Should have shown tricks together. 

In Act V Engine says : 

In a puppet play 
Were but my storie written by some schoUer, 
Twould put downe hocas pocas and the tumblers 
And draw more audience than the Motion 
Of Ninevie or the dainty docile horse 
That snorts at Sfiaine by an instinct of Nature. 

It is noteworthy that in The Country Captain none of the 
lines are printed as blank verse,^ but that many of them 
ought to be, seems plain on the most cursory reading. Indeed, 
there is throughout this play abundant evidence of a poetic 
vein not found elsewhere in Cavendish's literary accomplish- 
ment. For instance, when Device refuses to defend himself 
against the Sister's attack his speech cannot be mistaken for 
prose, even though printed as such : * 

I 'le rather bleede to death then lift a sworde | in my defence ; 
whose inconsiderate brightnesse | may fright the roses from your 
Cheekes, and leave | the lyllyes to Lament the rude divorce: | but 
were a man to dare me, and your enemie, | my rage more nimble 
then the Median shaft | should fiye into his bosome, and your eye 
I change Anger into smiles, to see me fight. | 

1 Bullen, p. 353. 

2 Ibid., p. 409. Engine's lines do not occur in T/ie Cotintry Captain. 

8 Except in Act II where the Sister bids Courtwell to woo her in that fash- 
ion, and there of course it is labelled. This episode occurs on pages 34-35. 
In Captain Undenvit, however, division into lines has been made. See above. 

* Country Captain, p. 80. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 107 

And Shirley's fine Italian hand may also be detected in 
Sir Francis's dream : ^ 

What ? have I slept ? some witchcraft did betray 

My eyes to so much darkness, yet my dreame 

Was full of rapture, such as I with all 

My wakinge sence would fly to meete ; me thought 

I saw a thousand cupids slyde from heaven 

And landing heere made this there scene of Revells 

Clappinge their goulden feathers, which kept time 

While their own feete struck musick to their dance 

As they had trod, and touched so many Lutes : 

This done within a cloude form'd like a throne, 

She to whom love had consecrate this night, 

My Mistresse, did descend, and cominge towards me 

My soule that ever wakes, angry to see 

My body made a prisoner, and so mock'd, 

Shook of the chaines of sleepe, least I should loose 

Essentiall pleasure for a dreame. Tis happie : 

I will not trust my selfe with ease and silence 

But walke and wayte her comming that must blesse me. 

The Country Captain is easily the best of the dramatic work 
ascribed to Newcastle, a fact we must lay to Shirley's credit, 
for its similarity to his other plays in general outline as well 
as in detail is marked and Cavendish's unassisted productions 
are decidedly inferior. This verdict has been generally ac- 
cepted by modern scholars, including Swinburne,"^ Gosse,^ 
Koeppel,^ Firth,^ and Forsythe ; ^ the only real '' dissenter is 
Fleay,* who seems to have been actuated by personal pique 

1 Country Captain, p. 74 ; and BuUen, pp. 393-394. 

2 Fortnightly Review, April, 1890, p. 476. 

' Mermaid Series, volume of Shirley's plays. Introduction, p. xxv. 

* Shakespeare's Wirkung, p. 64 ; and Ben Jonson's IVirkutig, p. 178. 
^ Pp. xvii-xviii. 

* Pp. 419-422. 

' W^ard does not altogether accept Bullen's ascription to Shirley, III, 120; 
also see Nason, pp. 153, 452. 

^ Chronicle 0/ the English Drama, I, 48-49. 



io8 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

against Bullen. Forsythe^ goes so far as to suggest the iden- 
tification of this play with Looke to the Ladie, a lost drama 
of Shirley's which was entered in the Stationers Register, 
March ii, 1639-1640,^ but apparently never printed nor acted 
under that name. About this time the author returned from 
his Irish sojourn, and although there is evidently some con- 
nection between his reappearance in London and the unful- 
filled entry, just what it is has never been satisfactorily 
explained. Forsythe offers the hypothesis^ that "Williams 
and Egglesfield (the would-be publishers) had obtained a 
MS. of Captain Underwit, which they renamed, and were 
preparing to publish as Shirley's when that author returning 
to England discovered their intention and put a stop to the 
publication of the play." This suggestion necessarily throws 
the date of The Country Captain back before 1636, when 
Shirley left England, a theory which may be supported by two 
independent considerations. Pepys saw the comedy revived on 
October 26, 1661, and records that this was "the first time it 
hath been acted this twenty-five years, a play of my Lord 
Newcastle's, but so silly a play as in all my life I never saw, 
and the first that ever I was weary of in my life " ; a judg- 
ment this indefatigable theatre-goer confirmed when he saw 
it performed again on November 25 of that same year, on 
August 14, 1667, and May 14, 1668, for each time it is labelled 
" a dull play " or "a very ordinary play." Pepys's '" twenty-five 
years" if taken literally would settle 1636 as the date of its 
first production, but we are hardly justified in being so pre- 
cise when dealing with such a palpable round number and 
such an inaccurate historian. 

The other evidence for placing this comedy before Shirley's 
removal to Ireland is an allusion to the " Proclamation com- 
manding the gentry to keep their residence in at their mansions 

^ Pp. 422-424. 2 Stationers' Register, transcribed by Arber, IV, 501. ^ p. 422. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 109 

in the Country and forbidding them to make their habitations 
in London and places adjoining," which was promulgated 
June 20, 1632.1 "This would seem to indicate an earlier 
date for the play than any heretofore offered," writes For- 
sythe,^ " since it seems unlikely that a proclamation at least 
seven years earlier would be alluded to among other strictly 
contemporary references." Yet the plot makes such a refer- 
ence, even if out of date, peculiarly appropriate. Sir Richard 
Huntlove is about to take his wife and her Sister away from 
London, which causes Device's remark concerning "the pitti- 
ful Complaint of the Ladies when they were banish 'd the 
Towne with their husbands to their Country houses." This 
fits the situation perfectly and enables the affected fop to 
expatiate on what a stupid existence the women will lead in 
their exile. There are, however, two other contemporary allu- 
sions which definitely place the present form of this play 
several years later : one to the Great Ship, built in 1637,^ 
and one to "the leager at Barwick and the late expeditions,"^ 
which must mean Charles I's march to Scotland and the 
Pacification at Berwick in June, 1639. Forsythe would have 
these passages later interpolations in his supposed version of 
1635,^ but this seems hardly necessary when the only reason 
for imagining an earlier form is the mere title of a lost drama 
recorded in 16 39- 1640. 

Moreover, if Williams and Egglesfield chose the exact time 
of Shirley's return to London for publishing a surreptitious 
copy of his comedy, they were less astute than the average 
publishers of their day.^ If, on the other hand, it was done 

1 Bullen, p. 331. 2 p. 422. 3 BuUen, p. 369. * Ibid., p. 321. 

6 P. 423. 

® T/ie Tragedy of Saint Albans was licensed for printing on the previous 
February 14 but evidently never appeared. Shirley may have come home 
during the intervening period, but in any case the status of the lost St. Albans 
is a separate problem. See Forsythe, pp. 150-152. 



no THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

with Shirley's permission, he must have been the acknowledged 
author of Look to the Lady, for it was licensed in his name. 
Had there been such a previous work by him, it could never 
have been produced, or Newcastle's later plagiarism would have 
been detected at once ; while if no such play was ever acted, 
it is idle to speculate upon its existence. Another reason for 
imagining that The Country Captain was not given until 1640 
is its performance " by His Majesties Servants at the Black- 
fryers," 1 a fact attested by its appearance in the list of "Plays 
of the King's Men," dated August 7, 164 1.^ Now before Shir- 
ley's withdrawal to Dublin, he wrote almost exclusively for the 
Queen's Men, and only one of his plays, The Brothers, — and 
that as far back as 1626, — was given at Blackfriars.^ After 
his return the dramatist transferred his activities to the King's 
Men, and they produced all his later works with the exception 
of The Politician and The Gentleman of Venice. The occa- 
sion for this shift in the performance of Shirley's plays has 
been variously explained,^ but the fact lends color to supposing 
that his collaboration with Newcastle falls within the later 
period. Indeed, there is no evidence at all which demands 
that The Country Captain should be dated as previous to 1639 ; 
on the other hand every indication serves to show that it was 
written and acted in that or the following year. 

There can be no doubt, however, that Look to the Lady 
would be a most suitable name for the comedy in which 
Lady Huntlove's underhand plottings have so large a share, 
and the temptation to relate the two dramas becomes well- 
nigh irresistible when it is remembered that the single men- 
tion of Shirley's lost play also occurs in 16 39- 1640. It seems 
possible to establish such a connection if we imagine that the 

^ Title-page of the edition. 

2 Malone Society Collections, pp. 368-369, where it follows Shirley's Imposture. 

8 Forsythe, pp. 26-27. * Nason, pp. 1 22-1 31. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " III 

author's return to England, instead of preventing the publica- 
tion of Look to the Lady, was the occasion of its entry in the 
Stationers' Register. He may have come back from Ireland 
with the idea for a new play, if not actually a rough draft of 
it, which he promised to finish for performance. As a result 
the publishers might well feel justified in preparing to print 
the work before it was acted. Then something interfered, per- 
haps it was Newcastle, who had recently developed a penchant 
for dramatic writing and who naturally would have turned for 
assistance to his former successful protege. The diplomatic 
Shirley might very well hand over his new scenario to the 
Earl, help the nobleman extensively in its composition, and, 
when the comedy was completed, produce it under another 
title with an attribution to his patron. Then, until modern 
scholarship came into the field, who was to imagine that The 
Country Captain by the Earl of Newcastle was identical with 
Look to the Lady by James Shirley } Perhaps, too, this explains 
why the completed play was not published until Newcastle 
chose to issue it ten years later, and why John Williams and 
Francis Egglesfield printed no more of Shirley's dramas. That 
these men did in 1640 bring out The Arcadia, which was 
licensed on November 29, 1639, a few months before Look 
to the Lady, is an evidence that the connection between them 
and Shirley was not broken off immediately on his arrival in 
London. Forsythe tries to show that The Arcadia may have 
been issued before the dramatist's return,^ and although this 
is possible, it is not likely, as a more probable hypothesis 
places the break somewhat later. Meanwhile The Arcadia 
might have appeared while Shirley was discovering that it 
was more profitable to write for the nobility than for unap- 
preciative publishers, even if in the former case you could not 
acknowledge your own productions. Naturally one supposes 
^ P. 422, i.e. in the very beginning of 1640 (Old Style). 



112 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

that such industry had its reward, since Newcastle was no 
niggard of his favors and the dramatist's loss from withdraw- 
ing Look to the Lady must have been considerable. Moreover, 
if Shirley had a conscience, it had to be salved for the 
disappointment to his printers. 

But this is romancing, and whatever truth may be in it, 
there is no proof thereof. What we know is, that on March 1 1, 
1 6 39- 1 640, Look to the Lady was licensed ; that in that month 
or the preceding ^ Shirley returned to London ; and that not 
long after The Country Captain, in which he had a large 
share, was produced by the King's Men at Blackfriars. The 
inference is not difficult to draw, but that does not necessitate 
an earlier date for the play's original composition. Dr. Forsythe 
is to be given complete credit for first suggesting this rather 
obscure identification, but in imagining a previous version he 
has gone unnecessarily far astray. Nor, while we recognize 
the influence of Shirley, must we forget that this drama con- 
tains some share of Newcastle's writing, probably in the low 
comic scenes where any poetic feeling would have been super- 
fluous. Its authorship has been generally ascribed to the Earl, 
although on the 1649 title-page it is said to be "Written by 
a Person of Honor." ^ We have seen that Pepys mentions 
Newcastle as responsible, and there are some verses by a 
Mr. Joseph Leigh to the same effect. They appeared in the 
165 1 collection of Wflliam Cartwright's works in an address 
to Humphrey Moseley, the printer, naming the books that he 
has presented to the public ; among them 

fam'd Newcastle's choice Variety 
With his brave Captam held up Poetry. 

1 Nason, pp. 118-119. 

2 On the separate title-page no author is mentioned, but the printer is 
given as " Samuell Broun English Bookseller at the Signe of the English 
Printing House in the Achter-ome." Apparently Moseley obtained complete 
possession of this Hague edition. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 113 

The Variety is always published with The Country Captain, 
but one would not insult Shirley by suggesting that he is 
responsible for any part of it, although Wood says " certain 
plays," a distinct plural, and no others by Newcastle were 
presented before the Civil War. There is in it no hint of 
Shirley's manner beyond the fact that Monsieur Gaillard, the 
French dancing master, recalls Le Frisk in The Ball, and that 
Mistress Voluble's discourse to the ladies has come through 
the Compliment School in Love Tricks?- The ultimate source 
for this general type of scene seems to be The Cloiids of 
Aristophanes,^ but it came into Elizabethan drama through 
the comedies of Ben Jonson. Cynthia s Revels, The Silent 
Woman, and The Devil is afi Ass all have some kind of 
"Academy," and it is very likely that Newcastle took the 
idea directly from those works. After the Earl's intimate 
acquaintance with Ben, it is quite natural to find him fol- 
lowing that master, as was discernible even in the mixed style 
of The Cojmtry Captain and as comes out strongly in the 
more unadulterated Variety. Here the Jonsonian theory of 
drama reigns supreme, and almost every character is a familiar 
type : the Jeerers, Major and Minor, are reminiscent of The 
Staple of News ; Simpleton, the country chouse, is Master 
Stephen again, this time with the addition of a cross-eyed 
mother ; while Form-all's propensity to impart court secrets 
confidentially, brings to mind Sir Politick Would-be of Vol- 
pone? Manley's humor for praising the past to the extent 
of arraying himself as Leicester might almost have been sug- 
gested by Jonson himself, especially as this lover of old times 



^ Forsythe, p. 430. But Voluble speaks in Act II, scene i, not Act III as 
Forsythe says. 

2 This is pointed out by Edmund Gosse in Mermaid Series, volume of 
Shirley's plays, Introduction, p. xii. 

^ M. Kerr's Influence of Ben Jonson, pp. 112-117. 



114 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

engages in a parody ^ of Ben's well-known lines beginning : 2 

Have you seen but a bright lily grow, 
Before rude hands have touch'd it ? 

One and all, these humors are properly punished at the end 
with good Jonsonian morality and according to the Duchess's 
assertion that her husband's chief design was "to divulge and 
laugh at the follies of mankind, to persecute vice and to 
encourage virtue . " ^ 

It can be seen that The Variety lives up to its name, but 
otherwise little praise may be afforded this wretched produc- 
tion, which is indeed only a farrago of diverse characteriza- 
tions. Plot there is none, except for a liberal use of the 
deceitful marriage device that does service in The Country 
Captain. That is well enough in its way but becomes unen- 
durable when employed wholesale as in the conclusion of 
Act V, where the Justice, Sir William, and Gaillard are re- 
spectively duped by Voluble, Simpleton's Mother, and the 
pert chambermaid, Nice, Our author only redeems himself 
by two lyrics sung in the inevitable drinking scene, which are 
worth all the rest of this play put together. One deals with 
woman's charms : ^ 

Thine eyes to me like sunnes appeare 

Or brighter starres their light ; 
Which makes it summer all the year, 

Or else a day of night. 
But truly I do thinke they are 
But eyes, and neither sunne nor starre. 

Brow, cheek, nose, and neck undergo the same disillusionment 
in true Cavalier lilt. The other song,^ a serenade, is even 



1 Act III, scene i. Simpleton sings the original words and Manley adds 
ridiculous ones. 

2 The last stanza of his Triumph of Char is. * The Variety, p. 62 
s Firth, p. 109. 5 Ibid., pp. 60-61. 



I 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 115 

more finished, and more typical of its age : 

I conjure thee, I conjure thee, by thy skin that is so faire, 
Thy dainty curled haire, 
And thy favour and thy grace, 
With the patches on thy face. 
And thy hand that doth invite 
The cold dullest appetite 
Appeare appeare. 

Upon these termes I doe invite thee, 
And if thou com'st I will delight thee. 

If not so, I doe not care, 
Though thy breasts be ne're so bare, 
Roses rich, with shooe that 's white 
Or thy Venus best delight. 

If not touch thy softer skin 

What care I for thee a pin, 
Appeare appeare. 

For to heare, and not to see 
Is a dull flat history. 
And to see and not to touch 
If you thinke the last too much 

Know all woman's but one toy 

If we men not them enjoy. 
Appeare appeare. 

The subsequent history of The Variety is really of greater 
importance than the play itself. There was made out of it 
a droll, called The French Dancing Master, which enjoyed 
considerable popularity after the Restoration. It was acted 
by Killigrew's company on March 11, 1661-1662,1 and on 
May 21 Pepys attended a performance, remarking that, "The 
play pleased us very well ; but Lacy's part, the Dancing 
Master, the best in the world." This impersonation won the 
piece its vogue and delighted Charles II so extremely that 

1 Malone's Shakespeare, ed. Boswell, III, 275. 



ii6 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

he had the actor painted as Gaillard.^ The droll was appar- 
ently based on two scenes from The Variety, that of Act II 
where the dancing master proclaims that wit lies in one's 
toes, and another from Act III, in which like Monsieur 
Jourdain's Maitre a Danser^ he urges that people be made 
" to dance, and to make a de boon reverence, for begar dat 
will make de King de great King in de Varle. . . . Ven dey 
are so bissey to learn a de dance, dey vill never tink of de 
Rebellion, and den de reverence is obedience to Monarchy, 
and begar obedience is ale de ting in de Varle," These two 
episodes were printed under the name of The Hmnoiirs of 
Monsieur Gaillard in the 1672 edition of Francis Kirkman's 
The Wits, or Sport npon Sport^ a famous collection of drolls 
and farces.^ 

The Variety cannot be given a definite date, but it may be 
approximately placed with its companion piece in 1639- 1640. 
It was also produced by the King's Men at Blackfriars accord- 
ing to its title-page, but does not appear on the list of their 
plays reprinted in the Malone Society Collections. This sug- 
gests that it might have appeared after that date, August 7, 
1 64 1, but on the other hand its omission may be due to earlier 
lack of success, a hypothesis supported by one of Richard 
Brome's poems. The verses set forth before his comedy of 
TJie Covent Garden Weeded are inscribed, " To my Lord of 
Newcastle, on his Play called The Variety. He having com- 
manded to give him my true opinion of it." In them Brome 

1 Langbaine, p-3i7- 

2 In Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, Act I, scene ii, particularly the speech : 
" Tous les malheurs des hommes, tous les revers funestes dont les histoires 
sont remplies, les bevues des politiques, et les manquements des grands capi- 
taines, tout cela n'est venu que faute de savoir danser." — QLuvres ComplHes 
de Moliere, Oxford, 1900, p. 487- 

3 Pp. 134-139- 

* Many of them are said to have been performed at fairs or taverns during 
the Puritan ascendency by Robert Cox, the comedian. See the article on 
Kirkman in Diet. Nat. Biog. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 117 

says that he has considered himself a poet for seven years, and 
as the first ascertainable trace of his work is The Northern 
Lass, which was acted a short time before its printed appearance 
in 1632, The Variety can be traced back to 1639. Neither was 
its reception markedly enthusiastic, if Brome's " true opinion " 
be taken for a criterion, although he was able cleverly to equivo- 
cate out of Gil Bias's dilemma. The cunning rogue must have 
chuckled to himself as, without perjuring his immortal soul, 

he wrote : 

I could not think these seven yeares, but that I 

In part a poet was, and so might lie, 

By the Poetick License. But I finde 

Now I am none, and strictly am confin'd 

To truth, if therefore I subpaena'd were 

Before the Court of Chancerie to swear. 

Or if from thence I should be higher sent. 

And on my life unto a Parliament 

Of wit and judgement, there to certifie 

What I could say of your Variety : 

I would depose each Scene appear'd to me 

An Act of wit, each Act a Comedy, 

And all was such, to all that understood. 

As knowing Johnson, swore By God 't was good. 

About this same time (in 1640) Brome dedicated his play 
The Sparagtis Garden to Newcastle,^ but he was too keen to 
trust in future rewards and had obtained his compensation 
in advance : 

My Lord ! 

Your favourable Construction of my poore Labours commanded my 
Service to your Honour, and, in that, betray'd your worth to this 
Dedication : I am not ignorant how farre unworthy my best endeavours 
are of your least allowance ; yet let your Lordship be pleased to know 
you, in this, share but the inconveniences of the most renowned Princes 
as you partake of their glories : And I doubt not but it will more 
divulge your noble Disposition to the World, when it is knowne you 

1 Brome's Works, 1873, m> m- 



Il8 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

can freely pardon an Officious trespasse against your Goodnes. Caesar 
had never bin commended for his Clemency, had there not occasion 
beene offered, wherein hee might shew, how willingly he could for- 
give : I shall thanke my Fortune, if this weake presentation of mine 
shall any way encrease the Glory of your Name among Good Men, 
which is the chiefest ayme and onely study of 

Your Honours devoted servant 

Richard Brome 

During the period of Newcastle's dramatic activity he held 
his post as governor to the Prince and in connection with this 
office produced another, very different piece of literature. It is 
a letter of instructions ^ written to Charles "for his studies, con- 
duct, and behaviour," the keynote of which seems to be modera- 
tion and diplomacy. As to education, he must learn languages 
and the arts of war, " though I confess, I would rather have 
you study things than words, matter than language ; for seldom 
a critic in many languages hath time to study sense, for words ; 
and at best he is or can be but a living dictionary. Besides I 
would not have you too studious, for too much contemplation 
spoils action and virtue consists in that . . . the greatest clerks 
are not the wisest men ; neither have I known bookworms 
great statesmen ; some have heretofore and some are now, but 
they study men more now than books, or else they would prove 
but silly statesmen. For a mere scholar, there is nothing so 
simple for this world." Prince Charles must beware of being 
too religious, a fault to which his tutor thinks him inclined, 
but still he must pray to God, lest his subjects wax disobedient, 
and lest " if any be Bible mad, over much learned with fiery 
zeal, they may think it a service to God to destroy you and 
say the Spirit moved them and bring some example of a king 
with a hard name in the Old Testament." The letter con- 
cludes with more practical advice, such as to be courteous, 

1 Printed by Firth, pp. 184-187, and in Ellis's Original Letters, Series I, 
Vol. Ill, p. 288. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " II9 

civil, and ceremonious ; but enough has been quoted to show 
that it is a remarkable document, intrinsically of greater worth 
than the Earl's pretentious dramas. 

While governor in the royal household, Newcastle was asso- 
ciated with other men of letters besides Shirley and Brome, 
so it may have been then that Robert Davenport addressed a 
manuscript volume of poems to him.^ In 1638 Jasper Mayne 
translated Lucian's Dialogues "for your private entertain- 
ment," as he tells his patron when they were finally published 
in 1664. In his dedication to the Marquis he explains the 
delay by saying, " whether it were Malice or Mistake I know 
not, but they were here in this place taken for Wanderers ; 
And when they went to the Presse, met the Whipping-Post in 
their way, by the over severe persecution of some needlessly 
morose." ^ He adds that he would have translated more, "' if 
the late barbarous Times had not broke into my Study. And 
by raising a Rebellion against Learning, and their Prince, had 
not called You away to lead an Army into the Field." Of 
this period also is a charming letter to Cavendish from gay 
Sir John Suckling, who is at court, and wonders why his 
friend stays so long away with the young Prince : ^ 

January 8. London — Are the small buds of the white and red 
rose more delightful than the roses themselves? And cannot the 
King and Queen invite as stronglie as the roiall issue ? 

Or has your lordship taken up your freinds opinion of you to your 
owne use, so that when you are in my Lord of Newcastle's companie 
you cannot think of anie other. Excuse me — - my Lord — I know it 
is a pleasure to enioy a priveledge due to the highest excelence — 
which is to be extreamlie honored and never seen — but withall I 
believe the goodnesse of your nature so great that you will not think 
yourself dearlie borrowed, when your presence shall concerne the 
fortune of an humble servant. I write not this — my Lord — that 
you should take a journey on purpose, that were as extravagant as if 

1 See Thorpe's Catalogue of Mss., 1836 (No. 1450), and the article on 
Robert Davenport in Diet. Nat. Biog. ^ P. A2. ^Welbeck Mss., II, 133. 



I20 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

a man should desire — the universall benefactor — the sun, to come a 
month or two before his time, onelie to make a spring in his garden. 
I will as men doe his, wait — my Lord — your comming and in the 
meantime promise myself good howres without the help of an 
astrologer, since I suddenlie hope to see the noblest planett of our 
orb in conjunction with your Lordship. 

Suckling's association with Newcastle was, of course, on an 
equal footing ; there could be no question of patronage when 
two courtiers met together with a common interest. It will be 
remembered, also, that Sir John was largely responsible for 
entangling Cavendish in the ill-fated Army Plot, which by its 
discovery cost the Earl his position. Yet there is no sign that 
anything but the pleasantest relations ever existed between 
these two kindred spirits. 

Another literary man connected with the unlucky conspiracy 
was William Davenant, who fled to France on its failure. He 
did not return until after the Civil War had broken out, when 
he was sent by the Queen with stores to Newcastle and (per- 
haps by her recommendation i) became an officer in the North- 
ern Army. Sir Philip Warwick sneers at this appointment in 
his criticism of Cavendish ^ : 

He was a gentleman of grandeur, generosity, loyalty, and steady and 
forward courage ; but his edge had too much of the razor in it : for 
he had a tincture of a romantic spirit, and had the misfortune to have 
somewhat of the poet in him ; so as he chose Sir William Davenant, 
an eminent good poet, and loyal gentleman, to be lieutenant-general 
of his ordnance. This inclination of his own and such kind of witty 
society (to be modest in the expression of it) diverted many counsels, 
and lost many opportunities, which the nature of that affair this great 
man had now entered into required. 

Davenant did not receive his knighthood from Newcastle 
as Aubrey asserts,^ although the general had that power by 

1 Firth, p.xviii, suggests this, citing Letters of Henrietta Maria, ed. Green, 
p. 134. 2 Metnoirs, p. 235. 

3 Aubrey's Lives, ed. 1898, I, 206, and the article on Davenant in Did. 
Nat. Biog. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 1 21 

commission, but from King Charles in person at the siege of 
Gloucester, After the defeat of the royal army, Sir William 
again cautiously sought refuge in Paris and must have met 
the Marquis there. In view of their close connection, it is 
astonishing that no notice of it finds a place in Davenant's 
works, with the exception of a short poem Upon the Marriage 
of the Lady Jane Cavendish zvith Mr. Che?tey. (Her sister 
Elizabeth wedded Lord Brackley, who took the part of the 
Elder Brother in Contus, and this is the only link between 
Newcastle and the greatest writer of his age.) Davenant's 
verses do not seem appropriate to their subject as they run:^ 

Why from my thoughts sweet rest ; sweeter to me 
Than young ambition's prosp'rous travels be, 
Or love's delicious progresses ; 
And is next death the greatest ease ? 
Why from so calm a heav'n, 
Dost call me to this world, all windy grown ; 

Where the light crowd, like lightest sand is driven, 
And weighty greatness, even by them, to air is blown ? 

During his campaigns Cavendish's own creative work was 
naturally brought to a standstill, or rather he turned his talents 
into unaccustomed channels. All his energies were occupied 
by proclamations and reports, of which the declaration "' for 
marching into Yorkshire " is worth considering for its sim- 
plicity of outline and its clean-cut argument.^ His defense for 
coming is (i) that he has been invited, (2) that he does not 
come to pillage or plunder, (3) that he intends to put an end 
to violent encroachments, and (4) that he will take counsel 
with his supporters in York and withdraw when his object is 
accomplished. That he has accepted Popish recusants into his 
army is freely admitted, but the Parliamentarians had enter- 
tained them first. Also it is perfectly legitimate to receive aid 

1 Works, p. 291. 2 Rushworth, III, ii, 78-81. See p. 24, above. 



122 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

from people of different denominations, as precedent and ex- 
pediency go to prove, nor is there any reason why they should 
prove disloyal. Finally, he will see to it that these Papists 
" do nothing against the Lawes of this Kingdome, for I have 
received them, not for their Religion, but for the Allegiance 
which they profess to so gratious a King : whom I pray God 
to Protect, and long continue amongst us, and let all good 
People say, Amen." 

ni 

PATRONAGE IN EXILE (1644-1660) 

Newcastle's excellent proclamations could not make up for 
his mediocre military ability, however, and by 1645, ^s we have 
seen, he found himself a refugee in Paris. Here he encoun- 
tered Hobbes again ^ and almost at once became embroiled 
in one of that philosopher's theoretical disputations. Bishop 
Bramhall of Londonderry, a staunch Royalist and a friend of 
Cavendish's, had fled with him after Marston Moor,^ and he 
was to be Hobbes's antagonist. The two men had a temperate 
discussion on the question of free-will before Newcastle, but 
as no conclusion was reached Bramhall set his views down 
on paper and sent them to the nobleman to be answered in 
like manner by Hobbes.'^ At the request of his patron, 
Hobbes did answer them in a letter dated from Rouen, 
August 20, 1646, humbly beseeching "your Lordship to 
communicate it only to my Lord Bishop." ^ Bramhall replied, 

1 Here, too, Newcastle and his brother were " pleased to take notice of " 
Sir William Petty, on Hobbes's recommendation. See Vaughan's Protectorate 
of Cronnvell, II, 368. It was Cavendish's influence also, no doubt, which at 
this time procured Hobbes his position as tutor in mathematics to Prince 
Charles. See LesHe Stephen's Hobbes, p. 38. 

2 Bramhall's Works, I, x, and III, Preface. 

3 Hobbes's English Works, V, 2, 22 ; and Bramhall's Works, IV, 17, 23. 
* Hobbes's English Works, IV, 238-278. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 123 

and as his opponent remained silent, the controversy seemed 
Hkely to be dropped ; but before the Bishop's second epistle 
had been received, a French gentleman obtained permission 
from Hobbes to have his letter translated by a young English- 
man, " who being a nimble writer, took a copy of it for him- 
self." In 1654 this surreptitious copy was printed, without 
the philosopher's knowledge or consent,^ but much to the 
indignation of Bramhall, who believed Hobbes had rudely 
violated their confidential correspondence. He thereupon 
published in 1655 all three tracts, item by item, under the 
name of A Defence of True Liberty from Antecedent and 
Extrinsecal Necessity, and dedicated it to Newcastle with a 
preface, stating in no uncertain terms the author's supposed 
grounds for complaint against his enemy .^ The following year 
Hobbes set forth the entire transaction again, calling it The 
Questions Concerning Liberty, Necessity and Chance, explain- 
ing the circumstances of the pirated version, and adding " ani- 
madversions " on each several section.^ Bramhall retaliated 
with Castigations of Mr. Hobbes his last Animadversions * and 
then carried the argument into broader fields by his Catching 
of Leviathan^ 1658. The final chapter in this dispute was 
Hobbes's answer, probably written ten years later but only 
given to the public posthumously. ^ 

Newcastle's name, it may be seen, disappears early in the 
discussion but crops up again in a sort of sequel to it. In 
1676 Benjamin Laney, Bishop of Ely, issued a tract against 
the original 1646 letter on liberty and necessity, to which it 
is alleged by Richard Blackburne that Hobbes replied in an 
address to the Duke.'^ No trace of this answer has been found, 



^ Hobbes's English Works, V, 25-26. * Bramhall, IV, 197-506. 

2 Bramhall, IV, 5-196. « Ibid., IV, 507-597. 

' Hobbes's English Works, V. ^ Hobbes's English Works, IV, 279-384. 

"^ Vlt<£ HobbiancB auctarium in Hobbes's Latin Works, I, Ixvii. 



124 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

and very probably it never existed .^ We have, however, in 
manuscript still another work dedicated to Cavendish : A 
miimte or first draught of the Optiqites. In two parts. By 
Thomas Hobbes. At Paris, 1 6^6? The first part, On Illumi- 
nation, was never printed, but the second, Ojt Vision, appears 
in Latin as part of the De Homine. Its introduction states 
that " the desire of knowledge and desire of needlesse riches 
are incompatible, and destructive one of another " and that 
this treatise "is grounded especially upon that wh^^ about 
1 6 years since I affirmed to your Lopp at Welbeck, that light 
is a fancy in the minde, caused by motion in the brain." The 
hope is further expressed "that your lordship, after having 
performed so noble and honourable acts for defence of your 
countrie, may thinke it no dishonour in this unfortunate lea- 
sure to have employed some thoughts in the speculation of the 
noblest of the senses, vision!' Newcastle was not the sort of 
man to lament his lost opportunities, and when the theatre of 
affairs was closed to him he speedily sought consolation in 
his earlier and less exacting pursuits ; patronage of science 
or art was always a congenial occupation for him. 

Association with Hobbes, together with Sir Charles Caven- 
dish's practical knowledge of science,^ brought the Marquis 
into relations with foreign men of learning. " I have heard 
Mr. Edmund Waller say," writes Aubrey,^ " that W. Lord 
Marquis of Newcastle was a great patron to Dr. Gassendi, and 
M. Des Cartes, as well as to Mr. Hobbes, and that he hath 
dined with them all three at the Marquis's table at Paris." 
The Duchess gives some support to this statement when she 

1 Robertson's Hobbes, p. 202, n. 

^ Harleian Ms. 3360. See Hobbes's English Works, VW, 467-471, where 
the dedication and concluding paragraph are given. 

^ See Vaughan's Protectorate of Cromwell, Vol. II, App. ; Halliwell's Letters 
on Scie7itific Subjects, 1841 ; and Hobbes's Englisk Works, VII, 455-462. 

* Lives, ed. 1898, I, 366. 



''OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 125 

defends herself against having appropriated opinions from the 
two latter : ^ 

I cannot say but I have seen them both, but upon my conscience I 
never spoke with monsieur De Cartes in my life, nor ever understood 
what he said, for he spake no English, and I understand no other 
language, and those times I saw him, which was twice at dinner with 
my Lord at Paris, he did appear to me a man of the fewest words I 
ever heard. And for Master Hobbes, it is true I have had the like 
good fortune to see him, and that very often with my Lord at dinner, 
for I conversing seldom with any strangers, had no other time to see 
those famous Philosophers ; yet I never heard Master Hobbes to my 
best remembrance treat, or discourse of Philosophy, nor I never spake 
to Master Hobbes twenty words in my life, I cannot say I did not ask 
him a question, for when I was in London I met him, and told him 
as truly I was very glad to see him, and asked him if he would please 
to do me that honour to stay at dinner, but he with great civility re- 
fused as having some businesse, which I suppose required his absence. 

Possibly in view of her habitual silence on previous occasions, 
he did not anticipate that her Ladyship would give him a very 
stimulating evening's entertainment. 

Still the Duchess was very proud of the connection with 
Hobbes, for in the Life she records his delight in some of her 
husband's sayings. The conversation turned on whether it 
might be possible for men to fly with artificial wings, and " my 
Lord declared, that he deemed it altogether impossible, and 
demonstrated it by this following reason. Man's arms, said 
he, are not set on his shoulders in the same manner as birds' 
wings are ; for that part of the arm which joins to the shoulder 
is in man placed inward, as towards the breast, but in birds 
outward, as toward the back ; which difference and contrary 
position or shape hinders that man cannot have the same flying 
action with his arms as birds have with their wings. Which 
argument Mr. Hobbes liked so well, that he was pleased to 

1 In " An Epiloge to my Philosophical Opinions," prefixed to Philosophical 
and Physical Opinions, 1655. 



126 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

make use of it in one of his books called Leviathan, if I 
remember well."^ Later they talked of witches, and Hobbes 
said he would not believe there were such things except that 
they admitted it themselves. Newcastle gave it as his opinion 
" that the confession of witches and their suffering for it, pro- 
ceeded from an erroneous belief, viz. that they had made a 
contract with the devil to serve him for such rewards as were 
in his power to give them, . . . and this wicked opinion makes 
them industrious to perform such ceremonies to the devil, that 
they adore and worship him as their god, and choose to live 
and die for him. Thus my Lord declared himself concerning 
witches, which Mr. Hobbes was also pleased to insert in his 
fore-mentioned book."^ Professor Firth says he has not been 
able to find these arguments in the Leviathan,^ and it is abso- 
lutely certain that the former does not appear in it. There is 
an allusion to witches, however, which may be held roughly 
to coincide with Cavendish's expressed view. In a brief and 
unimportant passage the author states : ^ 

As for witches, I think not that their witchcraft is any real power ; 
but yet that they are justly punished for the false belief they have 
that they can do such mischief, joined with their purpose to do it if 
they can ; their trade being nearer to a new religion than to a craft 
or science. 

The Duchess did not "remember well" in the first instance 
and her second example is hazy, to say the least, but she comes 
out of the ordeal with her reputation for intentional veracity 
unimpeached, if condemned more strongly than ever as an 
over-ardent hero-worshipper. 

This lady took her turn at patronage, too, after her marriage 
to Newcastle and while they were still in Paris. The recipient 
of her favor was John Birkenhead, editor of the Mercuritis 

^ Firth, pp. 106-107. ^ Ibid., p. 106, n. 

2 Ibid., p. 107. * English Works, III, 9. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 127 

Auliais, of whom Aubrey writes : ^ " He went over into 
France, where he stayed some time, I thinke not long. He 
received grace there from the dutchess of Newcastle, I remem- 
ber he tolde me." This must have been in 1648, the year of 
Birkenhead's arrival and of Descartes's long stay in Paris. 
In July the Marquis and the Marchioness left France for the 
Low Countries, where they resided during the remainder of 
their exile. Here there were few literary men with whom they 
could foregather, and as neither husband nor wife cared much 
for reading,^ they both turned to composition according to 
their individual taste and genius. 

The most interesting work that Newcastle produced in this 
period is thus described in his biography : ^ 

And here I cannot forbear to mention, that my noble Lord, when he 
was in banishment, presumed out of his duty and love to his gracious 
master, our now sovereign King, Charles the Second, to write and 
send him a little book, or rather a letter wherein he delivered his 
opinion concerning the government of his dominions, whensoever 
God should be pleased to restore him to his throne, together with 
some other notes and observations of foreign states and kingdoms ; 
but it being a private offer to his sacred Majesty, I dare not presume 
to publish it. 

Two manuscript copies of this document survive, one, evidently 
the royal copy, bound in white parchment, with fine gold tool- 
ing and blue silk strings, among the Clarendon Manuscripts 
in the Bodleian Library,^ the other in the Duke of Portland's 
possession. This letter was printed in 1903 by S. A. Strong 
in his Catalogue of Letters and Other Historical Doctmtents 

1 Lives, ed. 1898, II, 105. 

2 S. A. Strong's Caialog2te, p. 173; "A Preface to the Reader," prefixed to 
Philosophical Letters ; and " To the Reader," prefixed to Observations upon 
Experimental Philosophy. 

3 Firth, p. 100. 

* Madan's Summary Catalogue of the Western Mss., Vol. Ill, No. 16,195, 
where it is ascribed to Clarendon. 



128 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

preserved m the Library at Welbeck'^ and is an important 
addition to our knowledge of the man and his period. Mon- 
sieur Emile Montegut, in complete ignorance of this treatise, 
prophesies of it with startling accuracy i^ " Nous connaitrions 
les vraies opinions de Newcastle sur le gouvernement civil et 
la religion, et il est probable que nous verrions qu'elles furent 
elles meme d'un Hobes modere, prudent et sans insolence 
agressive." They are moreover the views of an overpractical 
Hobbes and thus form an instructive corollary to the Hobbesian 
theories by applying them more specifically. 

The "Little Book" begins with the assertion that "these 
discourses are oute off my longe Experience " and plunges at 
once into the question of militia, " for withoute an Armeye In 
your owne handes you are butt a kinge Uppon the Courteseye 
of others" — a good Leviathan principle with which to start.^ 
That monster is actually named in urging that its head, Lon- 
don, be mastered, " for so you master all Englande, & as one 
sayde whatt shoulde they bee Armde for, butt In time off 
peace to playe the fooles, In finsburye feeldes, In trayninge 
there, — Ande in time of warr to playe the Rebells agaynst 
their kinge, so still I Conclude Master London & you have 
dun your worke." He advises that trained bands be kept in 
every county, that two forts be built on each side of the Thames 
below Greenwich as was done at Antwerp, and that good gar- 
risons be kept in port towns. This last move will help insure 
the safety of shipping, which according to the old saying " is 
the Brason walls off Englande." Closely connected with that 

1 Pp. 173-236. 2 pp_ 271-272. 

8 John Selden, who also was a follower of Hobbes, writes : " If the Prince 
be serviis natiira, of a servile base Spirit, and the Subjects liberi, free and 
Ingenuous, oft-times they depose their Prince, and govern themselves. On 
the contrar)', if the People be Servi Natura, and some one amongst them of 
a free and Ingenuous Spirit, he makes himself King of the rest ; and this is 
the Cause of all changes in State : Commonwealths into Monarchies, and 
Monarchies into Commonwealths." — Table-Talk, CIX, 9. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS" 129 

is a plea for encouraging trade, " Itt is the merchante thatt 
onlye bringes Honye to the Hive," and with true seventeenth- 
century ring, the theory that was to reach its highest develop- 
ment under Colbert, " Trade muste bee considerde, thatt the 
merchante maye Exporte, more than Importe, that hee Carrye 
oute more Comodeties than he bringes in." The more trade, 
the greater custom revenues for the King, but of late there 
has been too much confusion in collecting them. Let monopo- 
lies be abolished, the rate of interest be lowered, and an excise 
adopted as the fairest tax possible, although, even so, "a 
Rich Curmougin thatt will almoste Starve him selfe, with rawe 
Porke and Candles Endes maye have advantage for the Purse 
though nott the Bellye, butt thatt can nott bee helpte." Since 
manufacture is of the utmost importance for enriching a coun- 
try, it would be an excellent plan to bring into England foreign 
industries such as the production of silk and of linen, " so for 
all maner off fine thred lases, as fianders famous for Itt, Iper 
& Gaunte hath been famous above 300 yeares for chaser 
[Chaucer ! ] speakes off Itt." 

As in his letter to Charles when a prince, Newcastle con- 
siders the Church as merely a political tool. This is strictly 
in accord with Hobbes's idea that religion must ever be sub- 
servient to the State, by the very nature of the contract 
implied in all government.^ Consequently the Church of 
England is the only permissible form of observance, "for 
Indeed, Popery, & Presbetery, though theye looke divers wayes, 
with their heads, yett theye are tied together like Samsons 
Foxes by theyr Tayles Carienge the same fierbrandes off 
Covetusnes & Ambition, to putt all Into a Combustion wher- 
soever theye coume, thatt will nott Submit to them." In 
Catholicism the jurisdiction of the Pope interferes with civil 

1 As Selden expresses it, " Every law is a Contract between the King and 
the People, and therefore to be kept." — Table- Talk, LXXVII, 4. 



I30 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

administration, and " for presbetrye Itt Is as distructive to 
monarchye as uncomlye in it, & a litle to sauseye with God 
Almightye sans seremoneye, butt lett anye tell mee wher anye 
monarkeye Is wher Itt Is planted, naye wher theye are butt 
aloude as In France whatt worke have theye made howe manye 
Civell warrs, untill Cardnall Richelewe tooke order with them 
In takinge a waye all theyr stronge Holdes." Then certain 
practical truths as to the regulation of Episcopacy are pro- 
pounded. The bishops should be wise men, as they have a 
right to sit in the upper house and are to supervise the schools, 
so that no weaver can scatter heresy among the pupils, "' for 
sertenlye as wee are Bred, off thatt Religion or opinion wee 
are off for the moste parte." Let each minister have but one 
living ; let the preachers confine themselves to printed ortho- 
dox sermons and catechisms that they may prevent fanaticism 
from creeping into the fold. "The Bible in Englishe under 
everye wevers & Chambermadyes Arme hath dun us much 
hurte," writes Newcastle, as he reviews the Rebellion in the 
light of Hobbes's system. Therefore only Latin books of con- 
troversy can be permitted, the press must be subjected to a 
rigid censorship, and the number of students in colleges and 
schools limited. Part of the bishops' function is to report 
public opinion, together with the movements of all dangerous 
persons. " But S"" ther Is nothinge can so well setle the 
church & keepe Itt In order as the power to bee In your owne 
handes, which Is the Drum & the Trumpett, for disputts will 
never have an Ende, & make newe & greate disorders, butt 
force quietts all thinges & so this amongeste the reste." 

One great protection for the King against the Church was 
law, but of late that has increased to such an extent that it must 
be regulated. Lawyers have multiplied like grasshoppers, until 
now one cannot get a decision in any court because of the red 
tape which is the livelihood of that profession. Chancery of 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 131 

course is the most dilatory tribunal, and by contrast the Star 
Chamber the most efficient. "They will saye Indeed whoe- 
soever Coumes ther, iff hee scape a broken pate hee Is shure 
to have a Scratchte face, butt one shoulde aske him whye hee 
coumes Ther." A merciful judge turns out to be more cruel 
in the end than a severe magistrate, who soon gets his juris- 
diction so well in hand that leniency is not needed. A corrupt 
judge ought to be examined by the King in person, and the 
sovereign should establish a record office in each county to 
diminish the need of lawyers. By these means he will be able 
to keep all departments under his control and, when this has 
been accomplished, to govern through kindness, " I shoulde 
wishe your Ma^^® to Governe by both Love & feare mixte 
together as ocation serves, — havinge the power which Is forse 
& never to use Itt butt uppon nesesetye, when ther Is eyther 
Comotion, or to prevente Itt, when anye what soever begins 
to Sowe sedition between the kinge & his People & to Governe 
as God Almightye doth by promise & Threatninges ; Rewardes 
for doinge well & punishmentes for those that offende." 
Here Newcastle clearly reveals the justification of Hobbes's 
philosophy when carried out to its impractical ideal, which is 
not so very different from many another Utopia ; but danger 
often lies in the methods advocated to gain this common end. 
Specific suggestions on the government of Scotland and Ire- 
land (not Home Rule, needless to say) and on diplomatic rela- 
tions with foreign countries follow, though their particularity 
puts them beyond the province of literature. 

Again the Marquis asserts the importance of ceremony in 
accents strongly reminiscent of the King in Hejiry IV^: "' Sere- 
monye & order with force, Governes all both In Peace & Warr, 
& keepes Everye man & Everye thinge within the Circle off 
their owne Conditions," — a sentiment which finds even more 

^ Shakespeare's Henry IV, Part I, Act III, scene ii. 



132 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

striking expression in Selden's Table-Talk : " Ceremony keeps 
up all things : 'T is like a Penny-Glass to a rich Spirit, or some 
excellent Water ; without it the Water were spilt, the Spirit 
lost." ^ Therefore the King is to hold aloof from the common 
herd as Queen Elizabeth did, and not to endure familiarity 
even in his bedchamber. He must honor the nobility, who at 
the worst would only depose him in favor of another ruler, 
while the commons are hostile to all monarchy. At the same 
time his courtiers must continually be kept up to a high level, 
for sometimes foppery has found its way in so ruinously that 
the greatest noble in England would be jeered, " iff hee did 
nott make the laste monthes Reverence A La Mode thatt Came 
with the laste Danser frome Paris packte upp In his fidle 
Case." The royal privileges are not even open to discussion, 
much less should Parliament be allowed supreme power, and 
to prevent this the King must keep plenty of money by him 
— good advice for a Stuart, if only he would follow it. This 
money is for rewarding friends, not to bribe enemies, a mis- 
take frequently made in former times, and one that Hobbes 
condemned with severity. To Newcastle it is "the Greateste 
Error off State thatt Ever was Committed In these two laste 
Raynes." " The Cardinall de Richelewe was the wiseste & 
Greateste States-Man in his times, & hee went playnlye to 
worke withoute litle Juglinges hee had butt two thinges which 
hee did All withal, which was moneye & Armes, sayenge iff 
the moneye would nott doe the Armes woulde, & iff the 
Armes fayled the moneye would & iff theye weare Singlye 
to weake beinge joyned theye woulde Effecte moste thinges 
In this worlde." 

Although Newcastle warned Charles against extravagance, 
he also added to his pamphlet a section, " For Your Ma^^^s Dever- 
tisementes." They were to include masks, balls, and plays, 

1 Table-Talk, XI, i. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 133 

riding horses in the manage, tiltings on coronation days, hunt- 
ing and hawking, and elaborate progresses through the coun- 
try. The people also must have diversions to keep them 
contentedly loyal ; the " Thou shalt nots " of the Protectorate 
had already prevented gaiety and happiness too long. Paris 
Garden, the home of bear-baiting, and all the theatres shall be 
open wide again, there will be puppet plays and rope danc- 
ing "with Guglers & Tumblers, — Besides strange Sightes, off 
Beastes, Birdes, Monsters & manye other thinges with severall 
Sortes off Musike, & dansinge, — Ande all the olde Holedayes, 
with their Mirth, & rightes sett up agen ; Feastinge daylaye 
will be in Merrye Englande, for Englande Is so plentifull off 
all provitiones, that iff wee doe nott Eate them theye will Eate 
Use, so wee feaste In our Defense." ^ Many of these amuse- 
ments shall go travelling up and down the country-side as they 
were wont to do, but the rural folk have their own relaxations 
as well : " Maye Games, Moris Danses, the Lords off the Maye, 
& Ladye off the Maye, the foole, — & the Hobye Horse muste 
nott bee forgotten. — Also the whitson Lorde, & Ladye, — 
Thrashinge off Hens at Shrove-tite, — Caralls & wassells att 
Christmas, with good Plum Porege & Pyes which nowe are 
forbidden as prophane ungodlye thinges, wakes, — Fayres & 
markettes mentaynes Comerse & Trade, — Sz: affter Eveninge 
Prayer Everye Sundaye & Holedaye, — The Countereye People 
with their fresher Lasses to tripp on the Toune Greene about 
the Maye pole, to the Louder Bagg-Pipe ther to be refreshte 
with their Ale & Cakes." With what gusto the Marquis writes 
of the good old days, and with what anticipation he looked for- 
ward to their renewal ! It is sad to think how changed was the 

1 Compare " An Apology for English Gluttony " in Reliqtiice Antique, I, 
326-327 : " The thyrde cause is for drede ; we have so grete aboundance 
and plente in ower realme, yf that we shulde not kyll and dystroye them, 
they wolde dystroy and devoure us, bothe beste and fowles." — Harleian Ms. 
23^2, fol. 84, v° (of Henry VIII's time). 



134 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

England to which he went back, and sadder still to realize what 
Fate held in store for Newcastle himself. The "Little Book" 
did not hold counsel pleasing to the second Charles, if we may 
judge from subsequent events, under a regime where pleasure 
and not policy was at the helm.^ It contained much sound prac- 
tical advice none the less, which if followed might have delayed 
the Stuart downfall. As it stands, the work is an invaluable com- 
mentary on Hobbes's philosophy and an important contribution 
to the political literature of that day. It does not look forward, 
but, turning backward with the keen eye of experience, it 
pierces the tangled causes of the Great Rebellion. The 
extreme Royalist view is set forth, after a lapse of years had 
allowed passions to cool and reason to reassert itself ; the im- 
petuosity of the Cavalier has been tempered with the careful 
deliberation of a Hobbes. The author's personality and past 
history merge in the product, which is as unique as it is remark- 
able — Newcastle never wrote with less thought of the public, 
but never with better effect. 

There is also in existence at Welbeck Abbey a book "' con- 
taining songs and sketches of plays in the handwriting of the 
Duke " which, to judge from the scant selection given by 
Mr. Strong,^ must have been composed during the stay in 
Flanders. One poem was to have been spoken before a 
pastoral drama at Antwerp and evidently to an audience of 
English refugees, since it defends entertainments given in the 
gloomy days of exile. Another is Upon Giving Mee The Late 
Kinges Picture ; a third was to be set to music by Mr. Lanier. 
We know that such a song was rendered at the ball in honor 
of Charles (1658), and this may have been the identical lyric 
sung by the Duchess's Moor : 

1 It is true that Charles carried out some of Newcastle's precepts, especially 
in regard to amusements (Airy, Charles II, p. 114), but the spirit of his reign 
was entirely opposed to the " Little Book." 

^ Catalogue of Letters etc. at Welbeck, pp. 57-60. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 1 35 

Her absence makes mee suffer for her, 
Nott greefe, or sorowe, butt whatts Hor-rer, 
Fanside [fancied] softe Virgins murderde, Bledinge, 
On those pewre streames sawe Tigers feedinge, 
Then vewde distracted Parentts Lienge, 
Cursinge their Fates, Fininge, & Dyenge. 

There follow three other verses of " hor-rer " which cause the 
poet to exclaim, 

Therefore returne with loves Intention, 

For frome Hells thaughts, Ther is redemtion. 

This is pretty poor stuff, and the other printed verses are 
scarcely better. 

In 1658 Newcastle had published at Antwerp his first book 
on horsemanship, which, with his second work on the same 
subject, has secured for him a large portion of his present 
fame.i With that fame has also come no small share of ridi- 
cule, for riding in the manage soon ceased to be a fashionable 
diversion, and nothing is more absurd than an outworn fad. 
Bishop Warburton in his edition of Clarendon ^ succinctly 
labelled the Duke " a fantastical virtuoso on horseback," and 
the occasion was too good for Walpole to let slip without a 
passing sneer : ^ 

He was fitter to break Pegasus for a manage than to mount him on 
the steeps of Parnassus. Of all the riders of that steed, perhaps there 
have not been a more fantastic couple than his grace and his faithful 
duchess who was never off her pillion. 

^ Many books on horsemanship had already been published during the last 
part of the sixteenth and the first part of the seventeenth century, notably 
those by Gervase Markham : A Discorirse of Horsefnanshippe ; Cavelarice, or the 
English Horseman, etc. See Cambridge History, IV, 364-369, and F. N. Huth's 
Works on Horses and Equitatio7i. Newcastle seems to have owed little or 
nothing to them, however, for in such writing the author's own experience is 
all-important ; nor would the Duke have condescended to sit at the feet of 
any master in this, his chosen subject. 

* VII, 77. 8 A Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors, ed. Park, III, 189. 



136 THE FIRST. DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

The full title of the earlier volume is La M^thodc Nouvelle et 
Invention extraordinaire de dresser les Chevaiix les travailler 
selon la Nature et parfaire la nature par la siibtilte de Vart ; 
la quelle na jamais ete treitvee que Par Le trcs-noble haiit et 
tres-puissant Prince Guillaiinie, Marqnis et Comte de New- 
castle etc. etc. Traduit de VAnglois de VAntenr en Francois 
par son Conimandcment} Concerning the circumstances of its 
appearance Newcastle writes to Nicholas on February 15, 
1656-1657:2 

I am so tormented about my book of horsemanship as you cannot 
believe, with a hundred several trades, I think, and the printing will 
cost above ^1300, which I could never have done but for my good 
friends Sir H. Cartwright and Mr. Loving ; and I hope they shall lose 
nothing by it, and I am sure they hope the like. 

In 1743 it was translated back into English to form the first 
volume of A General System of Horsemanship in all its 
Branches, printed by John Brindley, Bookseller to the Prince 
of Wales. 

The Introduction states Descartes's opinion that horses can 
reason as well as human beings and the author's deduction 
that they must therefore be taught like children, i. e. by 
rewards and punishments. The First Book is occupied with 
considerations of color and shape in horses, with their breed- 
ing, rearing, and breaking. Book II explains Newcastle's 
great invention, a new way to fasten the reins of the cavesson,^ 
which has turned out to be a panacea for ills in the man- 
age. Lessons are given on how to supple a horse's shoulders, 
how to make him obey the heel or bridle, how to work him 
with the false reins, with the bit, or with the reins held in 
the left hand. All these exercises are given for the gait of 

1 On June 29, 1653, Newcastle asks Edgeman to procure a translator for 
him. See Calendar of Clarendon Papers, II, 220. 

3 State Papers (Domestic), Record Office. See Firth, p. 206. 

* A caveison is a kind of stiff noseband used in training horse*. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 137 

terra-a-terra, but the next book treats of the so-called " airs " : 
corvets, groupades, caprioles, balotades, and demi-airs. For 
these airs, the horse is tied to the single pillar by a rather 
short rope and pricked with a poinson ^ to help out the rider's 
instruction. One essential quality in a well-trained horse is 
being put easily upon his haunches and another is to turn 
readily. Book IV treats of ways to attain these and other 
virtues ; as a last resort one is to let the horse have his own 
way, until he becomes tired of it and willing to obey his rider. 
The steed must not bear too heavily on the hand, nor should 
he be too light upon it, that is, not to have a good appuy. 
An "Epitome of Horsemanship" emphasizes certain preceding 
points, such as not to work the croup of a horse before his 
shoulders upon a circle, while an Appendix of afterthoughts 
brings the treatise to a conclusion. 

Much more interesting to the average reader than the text 
of this volume are the illustrations, which consist of forty-two 
— with the title-page, forty -three — copper-plate engravings, 
designed by Abraham Diepenbeck and executed by various 
skilled workmen. The majority show Newcastle and his master 
of horse. Captain Mazarin, executing the different gaits and 
evolutions of their steeds.^ One depicts the Marquis and 
Marchioness, their three daughters and sons-in-law, together 
with their two daughters-in-law, watching the feats of their 
two mounted sons. In another, Charles II is guided by Pallas 
and led by Mars, with Mercury as lackey and Cupid as page. 
Newcastle himself is often glorified, for we see him crowned 
by angels, drawn in a chariot by satyrs, and, most frequently, 
worshipped by horses. Verses are sometimes appended, com- 
posed by a Mr, D. V., of whom we would know more, for 
he writes : 

1 The wielder of this instrument stands not far off on foot. 

2 The landscape frequently contains the buildings at Bolsover or Welbeck. 



138 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Apres rhomme le Cheval le plus noble animal 
Est rendu par ce Seigneur si juste et si ^gal. 
Par cette Methode, que tout le monde admire 
Qu'on voit aisement qu'il est sujet de Son Empire. 

And again, describing the picture so exactly that one feels it 
was drawn to fit his poem : 

II monte avec la main les eperons et gaule 
Le Cheval de pegase qui voile en Capriole ; 
II monte si haut qu'il touche de sa teste les Cieux 
Et par ses merveilles ravit en extases les Dieux. 
Les Chevaux corruptibles qui Ik-bas sur terre sont 
En Courbettes demi-airs, terre k terre vont 
Avec humilitid, soumission et bassesse 
L'adorer comme Dieu et auteur de leur adresse. 

In 1667 Newcastle published his English book on the 
subject, "' being neither a Translation of the first, nor an 
absolutely necessary Addition to it." ^ Such a warning seems 
necessary, for the title is an exact equivalent of the French 
already cited. There are no engravings to lighten this disquisi- 
tion, but its style is, per contra, rather informal and conver- 
sational. For instance, there is a defense of the refinements 
of life, riding in the manage being one, that does not lack 
virility or force : 

It is True that if there was nothing Commendable but what is Use- 
ful, strictly Examined ; we must have nothing but Hollow Trees for 
our Houses, Figg-leaf -Breeches for our Clothes, Acorns for our Meat 
and Water for our Drink ; for certainly most things else are but 
Superfluities and Curiosities. 

Frederic Grison, the Neapolitan authority on horses, and his 
translator Mr. Blundeville are subjected to cutting satire : 

They Bid us take Heed, by any Means, Not to make the Horse too 
Weak-Neckt ; which is a Prime Note ! But Mr. Blundevile did not 
know that all Horses are a stiff-Necked Generation. 

1 " To the Readers." 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 139 

The Duke's simple egotism and pride speak out in a most 
straightforward and attractive manner : 

There is no Horse-man but shall Make my Horses go, for his Use, 
either in a Single Combat, or in the Wars, better than he shall any 
bodies Horses else ; and that 's Sufficient : for, to make them go in 
Perfection as I can, were too much, and too great a Miracle. 

Sir Walter Raleigh is mentioned twice, once as having " told 
me, That in the West-Indies there were the Finest Shap't 
Horses, and the Finest Colours in the World, beyond all 
Spanish Horses and Barbs that ever he saw ; and they knew 
there so little the Use of Horses that they killed them for 
their Skins" — a most engaging traveller's tale! Again it is 
recorded that " Sir Walter Rawley said well, That there are 
Stranger Things in the World than between Stains and 
London." 

The plan of this 1667 volume follows the early work ^ but 
differs materially in its proportions. Each separate breed of 
horses is taken up for a careful analysis, the division treating 
of farriery and the veterinary art is somewhat augmented, and, 
indeed, the whole book seems merely an elaboration of certain 
points in the earlier treatise. The author says it " may be of 
use by it self," but that must be for those who already know 
something of the manage ; for uninitiated readers La M^thode 
Nouvelle is more instructive, though "both together will 
questionless do best." The Duke had his second text also 
turned into French and published both versions in the same 
year at London. A French copy fell into the hands of 
Monsieur de Solleysel, whose own knowledge of horsemanship 
enabled him to detect the faults in translation and who wrote 
to Newcastle asking permission to undertake a more perfect 
rendering. This the Englishman granted, and afterwards, with 

* Both have four parts and an " Epitome of Horsemanship " added. 



140 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

his grandson as intermediary, he approved certain notes and 
explanations added by de Solleysel.i ^ German translation 
by Johann Philipp Ferdinand Pernauer followed in 1700. It 
was printed at Nuremberg with the French in a parallel 
column and was adorned by essentially Teutonic attempts to 
reproduce the plates of Newcastle's earlier work. Thus it may 
be seen that the Marquis's two books had a decided vogue 
and at once became the authorities on manage, which they 
have ever since remained, 

Gerard Langbaine confirms this popularity, both directly by 
anecdote and indirectly by an admission of his own indebtedness 
to Cavendish : ^ 

Signior del Campo, One of the most knowing Riders of his Time, 
said to the Duke (upon his Dismounting) as it were in an Extasie, // 
faut tirer la Planche ; The Bridge must be drawn -up : Meaning that 
no Rider must presume to come in Horsemanship after him. M. De 
Soleisel (one of the best Writers that I have met with amongst the 
French) when he enlarged his Le Parfait Mareschal, borrowed the 
Art of Breeding from the Duke's Book, as he owns in his Avis au 
Lecteur: and stiles him Un des acco7nplis Cavaliers de notre teinps. 
But having nam'd this Foreigner's borrowing from his Grace, I should 
justly deserve to be branded with Ingratitude, should I not own, That 
'tis to the Work of this Great Man, that I am indebted for several 
Notions borrow'd from his Grace, in a little Essay of Horsemanship, 
printed 8° Oxon. 1685. 

This refers to The Hunter: a Discourse of Horsemanship, 
published by Leonard Lichfield and bound up with the third 
edition of Nicholas Cox's Gentleman s Recreation? Langbaine's 
predisposition in favor of Newcastle, whether as general or 
author, may perhaps rest on this common interest in horseman- 
ship, a subject at which the nobleman excelled both in his age 
and for all time, 

1 See reprint with the German version. ^ Langbaine, p. 388. 

' The article on Langbaine in Diet. N'at. Biog. ; and The Gentleman^ s Recrea- 
tion, 1686. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 141 

While the Marquis and Marchioness were still on the Con- 
tinent, they acquired one literary friend whose name was to 
echo down the ages in no very dignified manner. What is 
more, they became so extremely intimate with Richard Fleck- 
noe that a great admiration developed on both sides. The 
earliest indication of it was some verses by Newcastle prefixed 
in 1655 1 to this poetaster's A Relation of Ten Years Travels 
in Europe, Asia, Ajfrique, and America. Three years later 
Flecknoe first brought out his Enigniaticall Characters, all 
taken to the Life from several Persons, Hnmoiirs, and Dis- 
positions, and again Newcastle launches into hyperbolic com- 
pliment. Here there are two introductory poems by him, of 
which the first runs : 

Fleckno, thy Characters are so full of wit 
And fancy, as each word is throng'd with it, 
Each line 's a volume, and who reads would swear, 
Whole Libraries were in each Character : 
Nor Arrows in a quiver struck, nor yet 
Lights in the Starry Skies are thicker set. 
Nor Quils upon the Armed Porcepine, 
Than wit and Fancy in this Work of thine. 

The complacent author reciprocates this flattery, for his char- 
acter "Of a certain Nobleman" ^ is evidently drawn from New- 
castle, whom, as we shall see, he later mentions by name in 
similar terms. The anonymous nobleman here " remembers 
his Ancestors more to their praise than his own . . . swels 
not with speaking big, but is courteous and affable to all, 
holding courtesie so main an ornament of Nobility, as that 
Nobleman (he imagines) disguises but himself, and puts on 
Pesants cloathing, who is discourteous ; above all he holds 
loyalty so essential to a Nobleman, as who proves disloyall 
once (he imagines) not only degrades himself, but even his 
posterity of their Nobility." 

^ The article on Flecknoe, Diet. Nat. Biog.^ gives the date as 1656. ^ p 103. 



142 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

After the death of Cromwell, in 1658, Flecknoe published 
a panegyric upon him,^ so that when the Restoration occurred 
he found it wise to bring out his Heroick Portraits to ingra- 
tiate himself with the new administration. Charles led the 
array, and among the other descriptions was one of Newcastle, 
praising the Marquis for his ability, wisdom, and generosity. To 
him Flecknoe dedicated, in 1664, Love's Kingdom. A Pastoral 
Trage-Comedy . Not as it was acted at the Theatre near Lin- 
coln s Lnn, hut as it was written atid since corrected? Attached 
to it was A Discourse of the English Stage in the form of a 
letter to his patron, which Langbaine takes ^ "to be the best 
thing he has extant." A Farrago of Several Pieces appeared 
in 1666, dedicated to the Duchess as a thank offering for her 
hospitality and assistance. It contains a prose " pourtrait " of 
her and various verses celebrating the two Newcastles. Among 
them are To James. Recommending Welbeck to him. On New- 
yearsday 1666, The Birth-Day, and 

Of Welbeck 
The Duke of Newcastles house 
Where he entertain'' d 
The last King so magnificently ^ Anno jj.* 

On the Dutchess of Nezvcastles Closset breathes an atmosphere 
of the most sycophantic abasement : ^ 

What place is this ? looks like some sacred Cell 

Where ancient Hermits formerly did dwell 

And never ceast importunating Heaven, 

Till some great blessing unto Earth was given ? 

Is this a Ladies Closset? 't cannot be, 

For nothing here of vanity we see, 

Nothing of curiosity, nor pride. 

As most of Ladies Clossets have beside. 

^ Printed in 1659. ^ The earlier version was known as Love's Dominion. 
^ P. 203. * Lohr's dissertation on Flecknoe, p. 85. 

^ Epigrams of 1670, p. 26; and Lohr's dissertation, p. 85. 



''OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 143 

Scarcely a Glass, or Mirror in 't you finde 
Excepting Books the Mirrors of the minde. 
Nor is 't a Library, but onely as she 
Makes each place where she comes a Library. 
Here she 's in rapture, here in extasie. 
With studying high, and deep Philosophy : 
Here those cleer lights descend into her minde, 
Which by reflection in her Books you finde : 
And those high Notions, and Idea's too, 
Which but her self, no Ladies ever knew. 
Whence she 's the chiefest Ornament and Grace 
O' th' times, and of her Sex. Hayle sacred place, 
To which the world in after-times shall come 
As unto Homers Shrine, or Virgils Tomb ; 
Honouring the Walls, wherein she made aboad. 
The air she breath'd, & ground whereon she trod. 
So Fame rewards the Arts, and so agen 
The Arts reward all those who honour them ; 
Whilst those in any other things do trust, 
Shall after death lye in forgotten dust. 

The incongruities of this piece are only equalled by its utter 
lack of sophistication. 

Flecknoe dedicated his Danioisclles a la Mode (1667) to 
the Duke and Duchess, and in the Epigrams of all Sorts, 
made at Divers Times on Several Occasions of 1670 he offers 
additional homage to them. In this collection are reprinted some 
of the Cavendish poems contained in the Farrago and one new 
effort, contrasting Newcastle with " an unworthy Nobleman " : ^ 

But now behold a Nobleman indeed, 
Such as w' admire in story when we read ; 
Who does not proudly look that you shud doff 
Your hat, and make a reverence twelve score of ; 
Nor take exceptions, if at every word 
You call him not his Grace or else my Lord; 
But does appear a hundred times more great 
By his neglect of 't, than by keeping state. 

^ Epigrams, p, 34. 



144 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

He knows Civility and Curtesie, 

Are chiefest signes of true Nobility ; 

And that which gains them truest honourers, 

Is their own Vertues, not their Ancesters. 

By which through all degrees that he has past, 

Of Viscount, Earl, Marquis, and Duke at last, 

H'as always gain'd the general esteem 

Of honouring those, more than they honour'd him. 

These verses appear again in A Collection of the Choicest 
Epigrams and Characters of Richard Flecknoe, 1673, with 
other of the earlier panegyrics and an elegy On the Death of 
the Lady Jean Cheney} who, one supposes, was Newcastle's 
eldest daughter. Euterpe Revived, 1675, is still another col- 
lection of epigrams old and new, one being occasioned by the 
Duchess's life of her husband : ^ 

Ne'er was life more worthy to be writ, 
Nor pen more worthy of the writing it. 
She makes you famous, and you her agen 
By th' famous subject you afford her pen. 
Whence 't is a question ever will remain, 
Whe'er fame makes writers, or else writers, fame. 
So, whilst you live i' the life that she does give, 
And she in writing of your life will live, 
Betwixt you both your fame will never die, 
But one give t' other immortality. 

Flecknoe's literary ability was mediocre, if not worse, and it 
may even deserve the consummate scorn heaped upon it by 
his contemporaries and immortalized by Dryden. Cavendish, 
however, seems to have been blind to the writer's defects, as 
he was to those of any author who would flatter him highly and 
consistently enough. So it was that the persistent Flecknoe 
praised him for the course of twenty years and no doubt 
throughout that period received the reward of his devotion. 

^ p. 13. Quoted in Walpole's Catalogue, ed. Park, III, 147, n. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS" 145 

IV 

PATRONAGE AFTER THE RESTORATION (1660-1676) 

Meanwhile Newcastle had returned from Flanders to the 
changed England of the Restoration. If he ever wrote a 
comedy, The Exile, attributed to him by Whincop/ its title 
would assign it to this period. Yet no other mention of this 
work is found any more than of TJie Heyresse, which Pepys 
deposes to have been " wrote, they say, by my Lord New- 
castle." ^ The Duke did, however, produce a play entitled 
The Humorous Lovers not long after his home-coming. It 
was published posthumously in 1677, but must have been 
acted at least ten years earlier, for Pepys saw it on March 30, 
1667, at the Duke of York's Theatre. He wrongly attributes 
it to the Duchess and perhaps for that reason labels it " the 
most silly thing that ever come upon a stage. I was sick to 
see it," but adds, "yet would not but have seen it, that I 
might the better understand her." As the title of this comedy 
suggests, it is also of the Jonsonian school, slightly adapted to 
accord with changing fashions in the theatre. Furrs, for ex- 
ample, the old gentleman always wrapped up for fear of catch- 
ing cold, is a palpable modification of Morose with his dislike 
of noise and, like him, furnishes excellent comic material.^ On 
the other hand, his illegitimate daughter, the innocent Dameris, 
who is country bred but instructed in worldly wisdom by crafty 
Mistress Hood, savors far more of the Restoration ingenue 
than of the preceding era. It is true that we do not see her 
actually employing feminine arts, save for the simple " I have 
seen nothing Sir, but the Paradise in Shoo-lane";^ yet her 

1 Theatrical Records, p. 75 ; and Walpole's Catalogue, ed. Park, III, 192, n. 

2 February i and 2, 1 688-1 689. 

' As when his proposed rival strips off the coverings and hales him out 
under a pump. * P- 33. 



146 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

old schoolmistress's advice foreshadows such characters as 
Miss Prue and Miss Hoyden. Courtly and Emilia are com- 
monplace lovers, while Sir Anthony Altalk, who lives up to 
his surname, falls into line with many another loquacious 
" pretender." 

What originality and interest there are in the play rest on 
the main plot concerning Colonel Boldman and the widow. 
Lady Pleasant. This story of feigned madness is only a frame- 
work for strange conceits and fantastic poems, but its essence 
is that used by Congreve for the Angelica- Valentine portion 
of Love for Love. The later dramatist too is almost as obscure 
as Newcastle in regard to " whys " and '" wherefores." Such a 
lack of motivation and the fact that what explanation is vouch- 
safed occurs after the event, centres the attention not on the 
persons but on their peculiar actions. This procedure causes 
a loss in dramatic effect, but the low order of entertainment 
that results is successful for a time if the surprises are made 
striking enough. Boldman's disregard for all women is upset 
by his swift capitulation to the Widow, and her subsequent 
floutings at his assumed powder and perfume give cause for 
the lover's insanity, which becomes even more diverting. The 
Colonel's threats to haunt Lady Pleasant and his lunatic 
attempts to square a circle are followed by the scene in which 
he gazes at his loved one through a perspective glass, as though 
he were at Calais and she on Dover Cliff. Finally the maid 
Tatle describes how the madman attempted to climb up a chim- 
ney and was pulled down, only to escape from surveillance 
again, an adventure which explains his extraordinary tirade : ^ 

In my Loves despair I fell 
Down to that Furnace we call Hell : 
The first strange thing that I did mark 
Was many fires, and yet 't was dark : 

1 Pp. 47-48. 



*'OUR ENGLISH M^XENAS " I47 

Instead of costly Arras there 
The walls poor sooty hangings were ; 
Spirits went about each Room 
With pans of sulphur for perfume : 
Sod tender Ladies in a pot 
For broths, and jellies they had got ; 
The spits were loaded with poor sinners 
That Devils wasted for their dinners ; 
While some were drying damned souls, 
Others made rashers on the coals : 
The waiting Women they did stew. 
That robb'd their Ladies of their due : 
Gammons of Us'rers down were taken. 
That hung i' th' chimney for their bacon : 
Here Lawyers bak'd in Ovens stand, 
For couzening Clients of their Land : 

In throngs where new-come sinners stood, 

A Reverend Lady lost her hood : 

A Chamber-maid cry'd out, alas, 

A Devil had broke her Looking-glass ; 

A Merchant cry'd, burnt was his Stuff, 

A City Wife did singe her Muff : 

A Purchaser did howling cry 

Alas, his Deeds and Seals did fry : 

A Courtier lost his Perriwig, 

A Hector lost his looking big : 

Of Whoremasters, there was great store 

Who pleaded, they'd been burnt before : 

The Drunkards that were in the rout. 

At last did piss the fires out : 

Hell being spoil'd I came away. 

And sinners now make holy day. 

As a corollary to this astounding document may be noted 

the conceit of an aerial banquet to which the madman invites 

Lady Pleasant : ^ 

Unto a Feast I will invite thee. 

Where various dishes shall delight thee ; 

1 Pp. 51-52- 



148 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

The steeming vapours drawn up hot 
From Earth, that 's Nature porridge-pot 
Shall be our broth ; we '1 drink my dear 
The thinner air for our small beer ; 
And if thou lik'st it not, I 'le call aloud, 
And make our Butler broach a cloud ; 
Of paler Planets, for thy sake, 
White-pots, and trembling Custards make ; 
The twinkling stars shall to our wish 
Make a Grand Salad in a dish ; 
Snow for our sugar shall not fail 
Fine candied ice, comfits of hail ; 
For Oranges gilt clouds we '1 squeeze, 
The milkie way we '1 turn to cheese ; 
Sun-beams we '1 catch, shall stand in place 
Of hotter Ginger, Nutmegs, Mace ; 
Sun-setting Clouds for Roses sweet, 
And Violet skies strow'd for our feet ; 
The Sphears shall for our Musick play, 
While Spirits dance the time away ; 
When we drink healths, Jove shall be proud 
Th' old Cannoneer to fire a Cloud, 
That all the Gods may know our mirth, 
And trembling Mortals too on earth ; 
And when our Feasting shall be done 
I 'le lead thee up hill to the Sun, 
And place thee there that thy eyes may 
Add greater lustre to the day. 

The conclusion of the affair between these " humorous 
lovers " turns the tables in a carefully planned surprise end- 
ing. When the Widow is at last reduced to tears by Bold- 
man's continued ravings, it transpires that she has been the 
victim of a plot hatched by the others against her unreason- 
able and unnecessary contempt for the Colonel. They are 
united of course, none the less, but other, more unlooked-for 
occurrences take place. Furrs marries not Mistress Hood, as 
one would expect, but Tatle, while the schoolmistress contents 
herself with James, Master Furrs 's manservant. Sir Anthony 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 149 

is beguiled into wedding the penniless Dameris on the sup- 
position that she is her father's heir, in the manner we have 
seen Newcastle employing so frequently throughout his earlier 
dramas. There can be little doubt that this comedy is, like 
The Variety, largely, if not entirely, his own work. It shows 
the constant use of Surprise for Suspense so common with 
the inexperienced playwright ; it is composed for the most 
part of humors, eccentricities, and conceits ; and it contains 
at least one Cavalier lyric, 

I love the fat, I love the fair, 

The lean, that 's nimble full of air ; ^ 

written in the same strain as those of The Variety. 

Finally, the masque in Act III ^ may well be the work of 
Cavendish, for whom Ben Jonson had long before written two 
similar entertainments. After the Restoration that form of 
diversion was held outworn and in small esteem, so that any 
author incorporating it in his play unmistakably characterized 
himself as a contemporary of the first Charles. Thus it was 
that the Duke, reverting to the pleasures of his youth, intro- 
duced a masque, with the professed purpose of weaving an 
enchantment around Boldman but really to bring in Cupid 
and Venus, their songs and dances. The Colonel is repre- 
sented by a lay figure, into which the deities of Love stick 
poisoned arrows ; but somewhat livelier is an antimasque of 
the Winds, who appear with bellows to plague old Master 
Furrs. This divertisement has no organic right to exist, nor 
is it justified by any beautiful, if unnecessary, adornment asso- 
ciated therewith ; indeed, it is merely a dim reflection of more 
spacious and more distant glories. Greater genius than that 
of Newcastle would have been needed to revive interest in 
the masque, at a court where stately pleasures were no longer 

1 P. 2. 2 Pp. 28-32. 



I50 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

the mode, so that naturally the lesser man met with neglect 
and derision. Except for Pepys's reference and the partial 
Langbaine's mild comment that " this Play equals most Com- 
edies of this Age," the work seems to have passed at once 
into oblivion. After reading The Humoroics Lovers, one can 
hardly wonder. 

Perhaps because of the comparative failure of his unassisted 
production, Newcastle shortly after took to collaboration again, 
this time with the dominant figure in Restoration literature. 
On August 1 6, 1667, Sir Martin Mar-all ; or The Feign d 
Innocence was originally acted, the author being unnamed, 
although the play was entered at Stationers' Hall as by 
Cavendish. There is no doubt that the nobleman was in some 
way connected with it, for Pepys, who attended the first per- 
formance and who was generally well up on theatrical gossip, 
calls it, "a play made by my Lord Duke of Newcastle, but, 
as every body says, corrected by Dry den." The next year it 
was published anonymously, but a reprint of 1691 definitely 
attributes it to the greater writer, ^ whom every subsequent 
copy names as the author. Downes in his Roscius Anglicanus, 
or an Historical Reviezv of the Stage 1660-IJO6, dated in 
1708, furnishes the most specific external evidence we have, 
asserting that Newcastle gave Mr. Dryden^ "a bare Transla- 
tion of it, out of a Comedy of the famous French Poet, 
Monsieur Moleiro : He Adopted the Part purposely for the 
Mouth of Mr. Nokes and curiously Polishing the whole." The 
Duke, it will be remembered, had his works on horsemanship 
turned into French by some one else, but no doubt he knew that 
language well enough to translate Moliere ; residence abroad 
could not have failed to perfect his youthful accomplishment. 

1 This reprint is part of the 1695 edition of Dryden's works. In the Scott- 
Saintsbury edition and elsewhere the independent edition of 1697 is men- 
tioned as being the first to have Dryden's name. 

2 Reprint of 1886, p. 28. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 151 

If Downes's assertion is correct, it definitely limits the 
amount of Newcastle's participation in Sir Martin, since a 
very small proportion of that play comes direct from L'Etourdi. 
Even what does derive from it is radically changed,^ for in 
Dryden the heroine Millisent marries not her blundering suitor, 
but Warner, his clever servant. Quinault's LAmant Indiscret 
furnishes a large share of Acts I and II, and the adapter's 
own invention is responsible for much new material. Dryden 
must be held the inventor of that famous scene in which 
Sir Martin pretends to play upon his lute and — a much 
graver charge — of the entire "' Feigned Innocence " story with 
all its objectionable features. The final result was most satis- 
factory, as the extreme popularity of this piece testified. After 
its premiere at the Duke of York's Theatre (probably given 
here at the request of Newcastle, for Dryden was employed 
by the other house), it ran thirty-two nights and had more 
than four performances at court.^ Pepys saw it seven or eight 
times and records with an ever-increasing crescendo of enthu- 
siasm : "It is the most entire piece of mirth, a complete 
farce from one end to the other, that certainly was ever writ. 
I never laughed so in all my life. I laughed till my head 
ached all the evening and night with the laughing ; and at 
very good wit therein, not fooling";^ and again, "saw 'Sir 
Martin Marr-all,' which the more I see, the more I like." ^ De- 
spite its coarseness, this play is by far the most amusing of 
Dryden's comedies, the humor is by no means contemptible, 
and it must act capitally. Even if Downes's account of the 
collaboration is rejected, Newcastle's share in it shrinks to 
a minimum, as the Duke shows nowhere a particle of the 
dramatic skill employed in the construction of Sir Martin 

^ L. Albrecht's Dryden's ^^ Sir Martin Mar-all" in Bezug auf seine Quellen^ 
Rostock, 1906. ^ August 16, 1667. 

2 Downes, Reprint of 1886, p. 31. * April 25, 1668. 



152 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Mar-all, much less any ability to write pointed and animated 
dialogue. What is more, Newcastle has already been found 
with Shirley's work masquerading under his name, and it will 
later be seen that he also received literary assistance from 
Shadwell. In the case under consideration Dryden was to 
father his comedy on Newcastle, but the truth gradually leaked 
out and after the nobleman's death there was no reason why 
its rightful authorship should be concealed. The ethics of 
such a substitution presumably troubled neither party to it, 
in a day when literature was merely an adjunct of society ; 
but time, as so often, has set the matter right, rendering 
honor to whom honor is due. 

That this arrangement may have rested upon a pecuniary 
basis seems quite likely, for the very next year, 1668, Dryden 
brought out An Evening s Love ; or, The Mock Astrologer. It 
was soon printed, with a dedication ^ to Newcastle ^ owning 
" my great obligations to your grace," and revealing Dryden's 
marked tendency to crook the pregnant hinges of the knee. 
Yet it is written as only Dryden in his day knew how to write, 
in such fluent and well-rounded prose as was never addressed 
to Newcastle by any other hand. Smoothly and felicitously it 
reviews the course of the Duke's life : 

I As you came into the world with all the advantages of a noble birth 

and education, so you have rendered both yet more conspicuous by 
your virtue. Fortune, indeed, has perpetually crowned your under- 
takings with success, but she has only waited on your valour, not 
conducted it. She has ministered to your glory like a slave, and has 
been led in triumph by it ; or, at most, while honour led you by the 
hand to greatness, fortune only followed to keep you from sliding 
back in the ascent. That, which Plutarch accounted her favour to 

1 Scott-Saintsbury Dryden, III, 229-236. 

2 In speaking of the fact in his " Life of Dryden," Dr. Johnson moralizes after 
this fashion : " It is unpleasing to think how many names, once celebrated, are 
since forgotten. Of Newcastle's works nothing is now known but his Treatise 
on Horsemanship." — Lives of the Poets, ed. Waugh, II, 141. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 153 

Cymon and Lucullus, was but her justice to your grace ; and, never to 
have been overcome where you led in person, as it was more than 
Hannibal could boast, so it was all that Providence could do for that 
party, which it had resolved to ruin. Thus, my lord, the last smiles 
of victory were on your arms ; and everywhere else declaring for the 
rebels, she seemed to suspend herself, and to doubt, before she took 
her flight, whether she were able wholly to abandon that cause, for 
which you fought. 

But the greatest trials of your courage and constancy were yet to 
come : Many had ventured their fortunes, and exposed their lives to 
the utmost dangers for their king and country, who ended their loy- 
alty with the war ; and, submitting to the iniquity of the times, chose 
rather to redeem their former plenty, by acknowledging an usurper, 
than to suffer with an unprofitable fidelity (as those meaner spirits 
called it) for their lawful sovereign. But, as I dare not accuse so 
many of our nobility, who were content to accept their patrimonies 
from the clemency of the conqueror, and to retain only a secret ven- 
eration for their prince, amidst the open worship which they were 
forced to pay to the usurper, who had dethroned him ; so, I hope, I 
may have leave to extol that virtue which acted more generously ; and 
which was not satisfied with an inward devotion to monarchy, but pro- 
duced itself to view, and asserted the cause by open martyrdom. Of 
these rare patterns of loyalty, your grace was chief : Those examples 
you could not find, you made. Some few Catos there were with you, 
whose invincible resolution could not be conquered by that usurping 
Caesar. Your virtue opposed itself to his fortune, and overcame it, by 
not submitting to it. The last and most difficult enterprise he had 
to effect, when he had conquered three nations, was to subdue your 
spirit ; and he died weary of that war, and unable to finish it. 

In the meantime, you lived more happily in your exile, than the other 
on his throne. Your loyalty made you friends and servants amongst 
foreigners; and you lived plentifully without a fortune ; for you lived on 
your own desert and reputation. The glorious name of the valiant and 
faithful Newcastle was a patrimony which could never be exhausted. 

Thus, my lord, the morning of your life was clear and calm ; and 
though it was afterwards overcast, yet, in that general storm, you 
were never without a shelter. And now you are happily arrived to 
the evening of a day, as serene as the dawn of it was glorious ; but 
such an evening as, I hope, and almost prophesy, is far from night : 
'Tis the evening of a summer's sun, which keeps the day-light long 
within the skies. 



154 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

There is more in the same manner, further classical allusions, 
some flattery addressed to the Duchess, with a final word on 
Newcastle's patronage of former and better poets : 

But, though all of them have surpassed me in the scene, there is one 
part of glory, in which I will not yield to any of them : I mean, my 
lord, that honour and veneration which they had for you in their 
lives ; and which I preserve after them, more holily than the vestal 
fires were maintained from age to age ; but with a greater degree of 
heat, and of devotion, than theirs, as being with more respect and 
passion than they ever were, 

Your Grace's 

Most obliged, most humble, 

and most obedient Servant, 

John Dryden 

With such prose as this for a criterion, it is no wonder that 
its author found Thomas Shadwell's frequent addresses to the 
Duke and Duchess awkward and inflated. Once he scathingly 
refers to his enemy as " the Northern dedicator," ^ and again, 
in the satiric lines of Flecknoe's advice to his successor, 
writes with utter contempt : ^ 

And when false flowers of rhetoric thou wouldst cull, 

Trust nature ; do not labour to be dull, 

But write thy best, and top ; and, in each line. 

Sir Formal's ^ oratory will be thine : 

Sir Formal, though unsought, attends thy quill, 

And does thy northern dedications fill. 

The first of these dedications was that to The Stdleit Lovers: 
or, The Impertinents, printed in 1668, but Shadwell had evi- 
dently received favors from Welbeck already, for after expa- 
tiating on Newcastle's courage and wit he continues : " Those 
Excellencies, as well as the great Obligations I have had the 

1 Vindication of the Duke of Guise, Scott-Saintsbury, VII, l8o. 

2 Mac-Flecknoe, lines 165-17 1. See Scott-Saintsbury, X, 455. 

^ Sir Formal Trifle is a florid and conceited orator in The Virtuoso, by 
Shadwell. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 155 

Honour to receive from your Grace, are the Occasion of this 
Dedication." This experiment resulted so well for the honest 
author that in 1671 we find him offering The Humourists to 
the Duchess : 

The favourable Reception, my Impertinents found from Your Excel- 
lent Lord, and my Noble Patron, and the great Mercy, Your Grace 
has for all Offenders of this kind, have made me presume humbly 
to lay this Comedy at Your Feet. . . . You have not been content 
only to surmount all Your own Sex in the excellent Qualities of a 
Lady and a Wife ; but you must overcome all ours in Wit and Under- 
standing. All our Sex have reason to envy You, and Your own to be 
proud of You, which by You have obtained an absolute Victory over 
us. It were a vain Thing in me to Endeavour to commend those ex- 
cellent Pieces that have fallen from your Grace's Pen, since all the World 
does. And this is not intended for a Panegyrick, but a Dedication. 

Quite as obsequious is the address to Newcastle before 
Epsom Wells, acted in 1672 and printed the following year, 
in which he calls his patron " the only Maecenas of our Age ; 
I am sure, the only one I can boast of. You are He, who still 
preserves and maintains the Magnificence and Grandeur of 
our ancient Nobility ; and being one that 's truly great in Mind 
as well as Fortune, you take Delight in rewarding and encour- 
aging of Art and Wit : And while others detract from Poetry, 
or at least neglect it, your Grace not only encourages it by 
your great Example, but protects it too. Welbeck is indeed 
the only Place, where the best Poets can find a good Recep- 
tion." "The Epistle Dedicatory" to The Virtuoso (1676) is 
largely a defense and explanation of the Jonsonian humors 
exemplified in that play : " When I shew'd your Grace some 
part of this Comedy at Welbeck, being all that I had then 
written of it, you were pleased to express your great liking for 
it, which was a sufficient Encouragement for me to proceed in 
it ; and when I had finished it, to lay it humbly at your Feet." 
These two "sons of Ben" agreed so well in literary matters 



156 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

that it is not remarkable they got on admirably in more 
personal ways. Something of their relationship is to be dis- 
covered in " hasty " ^ Shadwell's fifth and last '' northern 
dedication," that to The Libertine, also of 1676 : 

So vast was your Bounty to me, as to find me out in my Obscurity, 
and oblige me several Years before you saw me at Welbeck; where 
(when I arrived) I found a Respect so extreamly above the Mean- 
ness of my Condition, that I still received it with Blushes, having 
nothing to recommend me, (but the Birth and Education, without the 
Fortune, of a Gentleman) besides some Writings of mine, which your 
Grace was pleased to like. . . . 

Then (by the great Honour I had to be so daily admitted into 
your Grace's publick and private Conversation,) I observed that ad- 
mirable Experience and Judgment surmounting all the Old, and the 
Vigorousness of Wit, and Smartness of Expression, exceeding all the 
Young I ever knew ; and not only in sharp and apt Replies, the most 
excellent Way of pursuing a Discourse ; but (which is much more 
difficult) by giving easie and unforced Occasions, the most admirable 
Way of beginning one; and all this adapted to Men of all Circum- 
stances and Conditions : Your Grace being able to discourse with 
every Man in his own way ; which, as it shews you to be a most accu- 
rate Observer of all Mens Tempers, so it shews your Excellency in 
all their Arts. But when I had the Favour daily to be admitted at your 
Grace's more retir'd Conversation, when I alone enjoyed the Honour, 
I must declare, I never spent my Hours with that Pleasure or Improve- 
ment ; nor shall I ever enough acknowledge that, and the rest of the 
Honours done me by your Grace, as much above my Condition 
as my Merit. 

A year or two before these last dedications, which imme- 
diately preceded Newcastle's death, the Duke brought out his 
last drama, The Triumphant Widow, or the Medley of 
Humours^ but not without marked aid from his latest proteg6. 
Langbaine^ puts the shoe on the other foot and accepts facts 

^ The epithet is Rochester's. See An Allusion to the Tenth Satire of the 
First Book of Horace, line 43. 

2 This play was, like The Humorous Lovers, published in 1677. 

8 P. 387. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 157 

at their face value, when he writes : " This was thought so 
excellent a Play by our present Laureat [i.e. Shadwell], that he 
has transcrib'd a great deal of it in his Bjiry Fair." There can 
be no doubt of that, for Sir John Noddy, "an arch wag, a 
coxcomb full of monkey-tricks," ^ is taken over exactly in Sir 
Humphry of the same name. Many of their practical jokes are 
identical, as the striking away a cane upon which some one 
is leaning,^ the pushing another gentleman into a " plash" of 
water,^ and tying an unsuspecting victim to his chair or to a 
companion.^ Then there is the word-play on rabbit (raw-bit !), 
goose, and woodcock, with the dinner story of a doctor of 
divinity, whose wife used to entertain him with three dishes 
every day, "bitter, pout, and tart." The effect of telhng this 
tale was to make the ladies " tihee " under their napkins, and 
the te-hee catching one old lady as she was drinking, "she 
squirted the beer out of her nose, as an Indian does tobacco."^ 
Both the Noddies become embroiled in comic duels as well, 
so that it is quite evident that this portion of Bury Fair 
came straight from The Triumphant Widow. But there 
are other considerations. 

Each play has a number of incidents which do not appear 
in the other, although all seem much of a piece. In New- 
castle's comedy Sir John pulls off the Justice's periwig,^ pushes 
down a servant carrying dishes,'^ and narrates how he made 
some other man sit on a hot stone ; ^ the additional puns are 
upon " plaice," " owl," " gull," " about " (a bout), and on cheese, 
not from Cheshire, but Windsor, " because it is near Eaton." ^ 
Btiry Fair shows us Sir Humphry tweaking the pseudo Count's 

^ Dramatis Personge. 

2 Triumphant Widow, Act II ; and Bury Fair, Act III. 

^ Triunipha?it Widoiv, Act I. 

* Triumphant Widow, Act V ; and Bury Fair, Act I. 

^ Triumphant Widozu, Act III; and Bii?y Fair, Act III. 

« Act II. 7 Act III. 8 Act II. 9 Act III. 



158 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

nose,i cudgelling the impostor,^ and pluming himself on having 
" twirled another fellow's hat over a little river, that was not 
navigable ; and he was forced to go a mile about to fetch it." ^ 
The comic dialogue turns on a wainscot's being weak because 
" the weakest goes to the wall," a window mutinous " for 'tis 
full of quarrels," a looking-glass ill-natured "because it makes 
reflections," and a day scabby "because the sun's broken 
out."^ Such humor is of a very low order, but it runs in 
much the same vein throughout and appears indisputably to 
be the work of a single hand. When one remembers that 
Bury Fair was not brought upon the stage until 1689, thir- 
teen years after Newcastle's death, that nowhere in the Duke's 
other writings is there this strong tendency towards knock- 
about farce, and that at the time of The Tnumphmit Widow s 
production the nobleman had Shadwell for an intimate depend- 
ent, Firth's conclusion that the real author of this portion 
of the play " was only reclaiming his own property " ^ be- 
comes very nearly a certainty. That, too, is quite in accord 
with Newcastle's habit of engaging silent partners in his 
dramatic labors. 

What share each playwright had in the remainder of the 
piece is not so easy to determine. The low-life scenes among 
assorted servants, one of them a military cook,^ may be attrib- 
uted to the Duke, if only for their similarity to his portion 
of The Lady Contemplation. In this work by the Duchess, 
Newcastle furnishes the encounters between Mall Mean-bred 
and various gentlemen from town,'^ who promise more than 
they are willing to perform. She later berates Sir Golden 
Riches after this fashion : ^ 

1 Act III. * Act III. 

* Act IV. 6 Firth, Introduction, p. xix. 

8 Act I. « Pp. 27, 46-48. 

' Part I, Scenes xvii, xx, xxiv, and Part II, Scenes xxv, xxxv. 

8 Flayes, 1662, pp. 245-246. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 159 

As I am a true woman which he knows I am, I never had more 
than this white fustion wastecoat and three pence to buy me three 
pennyworth of pins, for he would allow me no incle to tie it withal, 
and this old stamel petticoat, that was his great Grandmother's in 
Eighty eight . . . and the garters he talks of were lists of cloth, 
which a Taylor gave me for my New-years-gift. 

Certainly this is in the same manner as Gervas's gift to Cicely 
in The Triumphant Widoiv of^ "a white Fustian Wastcoat, 
and a brave Stamel Petticoat regarded with black Velvet " or 
the billingsgate between James and Margery, in which he 
describes her mother ^ "with a Petticoat of more patches than 
one can number, indented at the bottom and so short, I saw 
up to her old cruel Garters with her stockings of three colours, 
three stories high, with Incle about her Hat, knitting at the 
Gate for an Alms," Lady Haughty, the widow, seems to owe 
something to Newcastle's influence also, for, although a lady 
courted by many suitors is not a distinctive creation, it is 
unusual for her to accept none of them in the end and to con- 
tinue "triumphant." Yet this was an ideal very common in 
the Duchess's theoretical plays, which her husband may well 
have taken over for actual stage presentation.^ Its originality 
will not carry alone, and a complete lack of psychological 
analysis leaves the main plot very dull indeed. 

Of Lady Haughty's admirers, foolish Justice Spoilwit and 
Colonel Bounce have little individuality, the Colonel's raison 
d'etre being chiefly to furnish a mate for Isabella, the widow's 
witty kinswoman. We have already seen that Sir John Noddy 
is a creation of Shadwell's, but his tricked marriage to the 
maid Nan in Act V is the old device of which Newcastle 
appears to have been so fond that he introduces it at least 
once into each of his dramas. This time the victim is told he 

1 Act I, p. 4. 2 Act IV, p. 64. 

8 Compare also Lady Haughty's objections to her suitors, pp. 8-12, with the 
refusal of various wooers in the Duchess's Fublick Wooing (Playes, 1662). 



l6o THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

should be satisfied, for " her father was a Gentleman, your's 
an Ironmonger at London ; her's was ruin'd by Loyalty, as 
your's was raised by Rebellion." A similar Cavalier ring is 
found in a wooing song of Noddy's, which the Duke probably 
inserted, though it is not probable that he composed it : 

I dote, I dote, but am a Sot to show it, 
I was a very Fool to let her know it, 
For now she doth so cunning grow, 
She proves a friend worse than a foe. 
She '1 neither hold me fast nor let me go ; 
She tells me I cannot forsake her. 
When straight I endeavour to leave her, 

She to make me stay 

Throws a kiss in my way : 
O then I could tarry for ever. 
But good Madam Fickle be faithful, 
And leave off your damnable dodging, 

Either love me or leave me. 

And do not deceive me, 
But let me go home to my Lodging. 

The first ten lines had appeared as the first stanza of an 
anonymous song, The Drtcnkett Lover. J. D. Delight, in Wit 
Res tor d, 1658, while the last five occur in its seventh stanza.^ 
The Bag ford Ballads'^ attributes this entire performance to 
Newcastle, but it is more likely that he already knew the 
longer version and made use of certain snatches from it. 
Such slight differences as do exist in the two forms would 
be almost inevitable after oral transmission had taken place, 
and The Drunken Lover was in existence fifteen years before 
The Trinmphajit Widow. 

The most striking character in this play is Footpad, a rogue, 
whose song on his first appearance sounds the keynote of his 
personality : ^ 

1 Pp. 165-168. 

2 II, 514-515. It is reprinted here, and the various other appearances of 
it noted ; the title is given as " The Lover's Mad Fits." ^ P. 3. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " i6i 

Since e'ry Profession 's become a lewd Cheat, 

And the little, like fish, are devour'd by the great ; 

Since all Mankind use to rob one another ; 

Since the Son robs the Father, the Brother, the Brother ; 

Since all sorts of men such Villains will be 

When all the world plays the Rogue, why should not we ? 

We see him thereafter as a peddler singing hke Autolycus, 
" Come Maids, what is it that you lack ? " ^ as a fortune-telling 
and pocket-picking gypsy,^ as a fiddler,^ and finally as a 
crippled beggar.^ His clever attempts to escape detection are 
successful in arousing the reader's sluggish interest, while 
his ultimate capture seems thrilling in comparison with the 
greater part of this comedy. The lucky Constable with his 
" Mr. Matthew Mattical " and " Geogrecum " learning adds 
not a little to a scene, which ends almost climactically with 
Footpad's line, " I have had a merry life, though a short one." 
In the last act he is brought to the gallows amidst a question- 
ing, babbling populace, so vividly depicted that perhaps the 
author drew it from life. The realism in this scene resembles 
that employed upon the three pairs of servants, and these 
passages may all be the work of Newcastle, — that is the 
only hope for the Duke's artistic reputation as a dramatist. 
Footpad makes a speech to the people, saying he is a me- 
mento mori to them and admitting quite candidly his regret 
that he cannot escape. His reprieve comes just in the nick of 
time, and, though the assembled throng feels cheated of its 
legitimate pleasure, the audience is completely reconciled to 
a pardon for this fascinating but unprincipled rascal. 

It remains to consider two other characters, Codshead, "a 
coxcomb," and his friend Crambo, "an heroick poet," whose 
humors have their place in the medley. With them we come 

1 Act I. 8 Act III. 

2 Act II. * Act IV. 



l62 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

upon further unmistakable traces of Shadwell, and this time 
Og is revealed by no less a person than Doeg, his companion 
in infamy. It seems strange that Elkanah Settle, who in 1682 
was to be pilloried with Shadwell by the arch-satirist Dryden, 
should in 1675 have been an object of their joint animosity. 
The main facts about the case are as follows : ^ In 1673 young 
Settle's popular play The Empress of Morocco was published, 
with a sneering reference to the failure of Dryden's Assigna- 
tion ; the following year this provoked a reply entitled Notes 
and Observations on the E^npress of Morocco. Shadwell and 
Crowne assisted Dryden with the pamphlet, and in their turn 
were mentioned in Settle's answering defense. Shadwell, to 
whom were ascribed many of the strictures on the fourth act, 
was let off very easily as,^ " The Authour of Epsom-Wells, 
that has Wit if he can keep it." Nevertheless Og's enmity 
seems rather increased than diminished thereafter, for soon 
Settle complains after this fashion : ^ 

And yet so much Civility had only this effect upon him, Having a 
Play, call'd the Triumphant Widow, given him to bring into the 
Duke's Play-house, he spitefully foists in a Scene of his owrn into the 
Play, and makes a silly Heroick Poet in it, speak the very words he 
had heard me say, and made reflexions on some of the very Lines 
he had so sencelessly prated on before in his Notes. And the reason 
he gives for this scurrilous Language in his Preface to the Libertine, 
was, that I had abused him in a Postscript to Love and Revenge, 
which if I had done, had been but just after his ill usage in that 
Triumphant Widow. 

Love and Revenge was printed in 1675 with the malicious 
postscript, which does not appear in the 1674 manuscript ver- 
sion.^ This reference, then, firmly dates Newcastle's play and 
as surely proves that Shadwell had a hand in its composition. 

1 F. C. Brown's Elkanah Settle, His Life and Works, pp. 50-61. 

'^ " The Preface to the Reader," prefixed to Ibrahim, the Illustrious Bassa. 

2 Ibid. * Harleian Ms. dgoj. See Brown, p. 60. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 163 

Specific citations from The Empress of Morocco do not, 
however, occur in the pubhshed version of the Duke's comedy, 
possibly because discretion prevented a printed hbel when 
the spoken word had been found to give offense. Nor can we 
identify Settle's "very words," if indeed the interpolated scene 
be present in any form. Yet Crambo's entire character sug- 
gests satire at once, so that with a hint such as "heroically 
mad " ^ Elkanah gives us, he is himself revealed as the object 
of this ridicule. The absurdities inherent in an abstract heroic 
poet necessarily react upon the most prominent of that genus, 
and Shadwell's hostility towards Settle has already been noticed. 
Despite a lack of particular evidence, there can be little doubt 
that the Crambo-Codshead portion of The Triumphant Widow 
is only one more attack made by the future laureate upon 
his unfortunate enemy. Crambo rails against dull or common 
similes, against oaths, curses, and petty affectations,^ but he is 
easily put to confusion by his inamorata, the witty Isabella.^ 
The poet says that when his lady came out of doors, "the 
Garden smiled, and put on a fresh Verdure," whereupon she 
tries to disconcert him by replying, " It seems the Garden is 
merrily disposed." He is so stupid that he cannot make one 
quibble when all the others are punning madly,^ and he steals 
with avidity Codshead's similes ^ that breath is like a heavenly 
dew and teeth like " Oriental Pearls, or Twin Lambs newly 
shorn." The heroic tendency towards rhetorical questions and 
elaborately costumed dances is burlesqued,^ and Crambo sets 
forth a translation which was to do duty again in Bury Fair? 

The Latin ^ 

Mittitur in disco mihi piscis ab Archiepisco — 
Po non ponatur, quia potus non mihi datur 

^ Absalom and Achitophel, Part II, line 417. ^ P-44- 

2 Act I. « Act V. 

^ Pp. 22-23. ^ •^'-t ^- 

* Pp. 37-38- ' P- 82. 



1 64 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

is notably rendered 

Here in a Dish 

Is sent me some fish 

By the Archbish, 

Hop was not there, 

Because he sent me no Beer. 

The poet also writes a scene ^ with which his friend Cods- 
head is to woo the Widow, composing both the suitor's pro- 
testations and the lady's answers. But after she is compared 
to a lily, instead of replying, 

Your Phrases make my modesty to blush, 

her prosaic remark is, " Methinks I do not look so very pale 
as a Lily, though I confess I am very pale." Consequently 
the following lines beginning. 

Then you appear like the new budded Rose, 

fall rather fiat, and afterwards matters go from bad to worse. 
When, about this time. Crambo is taken sick because of his 
fustian and heroic couplets, the Doctor is at a loss how to 
cure him. 2 Various ancients and moderns are proposed as 
remedies, but Shakespeare has too much wit, while " Fletcher 
and Beaumont have so much of the Spanish Perfume of 
Romances and Novels."^ As was unavoidable in a play by 
two loyal sons of Ben, Jonson's works finally perform the 
miracle, for although Crambo reviles that author as dull and 
without wit, '" he was the Honour of his Nation, and the Poet 
of Poets." ^ The Doctor's charm, which aids in effecting the 
recovery, hints again at plagiarism and has a word or two in 
definition of the true poet that are not without their significant 
relation to Newcastle's own life : ^ 

1 Pp. 61-63. 8 p. 60. 5 p 72. 

2Pp. S9-6i. *P.6i. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 165 

Ye Gods this Poet now restore, 

Or else he never will write more ; 

Him with Poetick flames inspire, 

And give him a Celestial fire. 

Give him fresh Fancies, new, unknown, 

Ne're let him write but what 's his own. 

A Poet is not made, but born, 
All helps of reading he should scorn, 
Ne're vexes Authors, but will look 
On the whole World, that is his Book. 
Let him not here languishing lye. 
Restore him now, or let him dye. 

Cavendish certainly never troubled books, but neither unfortu- 
nately was he born with a poetical genius. Nor does his work- 
manship on The Triumphant Widow demand any important 
place for him in the memory of after ages. 

The Duke's share in the quarrel between Shadwell and 
Settle did not terminate with the production of his play. In 
1675, as we have seen, Elkanah brought out the tragedy of 
Love mid Revenge, adding a violent postscript to attack his 
enemy and dedicating the whole to Newcastle : 

That so worthless a Present to so Eminent a Person, is a piece of 
Arrogance, I am as Conscious as I am that your Grace has Goodness 
to Pardon it ; for if sins of Presumption could not be forgiven, the 
punishment of offences would put a restraint on Virtue, and make 
Mercy one of the noblest Ornaments of Greatness a Stranger to it; 
and at that rate a Patron would be as confined as a Judge, who at the 
same time he is a Kings Representative and presides over Justice, is 
a Slave to it ; whilst his Sentence is but the voyce of Law, & his 
Favour or Cruelty not voluntary, but prescribed. 

The stock adulation here offered is almost identical with that 
Brome prefixed to his Sparagus Garden, but in spirit these 
two dedications are as far apart as the poles. Brome, who had 
already obtained favor, is almost jocular in tone ; Settle, a man 
of another sort, humbly fawns for the bone that has not yet 



l66 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

been cast to him. The chances are that he ultimately received 
it, although the Duke was by this time on intimate terms with 
Shadwell. That author, it will be remembered, offered two 
plays to his patron during the next year and prefixed to one. 
The Libertine, still further abuse aimed at Settle. Newcastle, 
however, was of an easy-going disposition and he may have 
tried to ride both horses at once ; besides, he was an old man 
now, caring little for the fiery disputes of youth. At any rate, 
when Ibrahim was published in 1676 and Settle took a final 
fling at his enemy, he deposed that "he [Shadwell] has not 
laboured only to blast my Plays, but made it his study by all 
interest and subtilty, with all the scandalous Aspersions he 
could invent to mine me in the esteem of that Honourable 
Family, whose smiles, though with more zeal than Merit, above 
all my other interest in the World I study to preserve. Yet 
methinks he might have had so much Wit in his anger, or at 
least as much good Manners, as not to have thought so meanly 
of Persons of such Worth and Honour as to imagine their 
Favours could be alienated by Malice or their Judgements 
byass'd by Villany.''^ The "Honourable Family" was presum- 
ably the Cavendishes, who in the person of Newcastle must 
have shown continued impartiality to both contestants. 

On Christmas Day of the same year, 1676, the Loyal 
Duke's long life came to an end amid these petty bickerings 
of Restoration poetasters. He whose literary associations had 
begun with the towering personality of father Ben had lived 
to witness momentous changes in England's artistic atmos- 
phere. He had seen the philosophy of Hobbes form, expand, 
and fall away, until the stage was nearly set for the appear- 
ance of John Locke. He had seen the portraits of Van Dyck 
give place to Sir Peter Lely's artful imitations of them. He 
had seen the long rich stream of Elizabethan drama reach its 

1 Preface to Ibrahim. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 167 

end in Ford, Shirley, and Brome, and the rise of a new order 
in the work of Davenant and Shadwell, Settle and Dryden. 
He had known the lyrics of Suckling and Waller ; he had been 
cosmopolitan enough to patronize the foreign men of science, 
Descartes and Gassendi. To each he offered the hand of 
friendship and assistance ; each voices grateful affection for 
their common patron. If Newcastle was not deep or strong 
in character, he was broad and catholic in his interests, and 
that basically explains his position in history. He was not a 
great general, but he was a noble gentleman ; and he truly appre- 
ciated the fine arts, if he was too weak to be a creator in them. 
He was too sincere to be called a dilettante, too superficial to 
make an imprint on his age, but too influential to be com- 
pletely forgotten. He is remembered not for what he did 
himself, but for his association with the lives of others. 

It is not to be wondered at that, in his position as Maecenas, 
Newcastle tried his own hand at literature of many kinds, nor 
that in the drama he collaborated with his proteges, Shirley, 
Dryden, and Shadwell. When the work of these men is dis- 
counted, very little remains to the Duke's credit ; a complete 
lack of sense for situation and dialogue, a palpable ignorance 
of his audience, and a smug self-satisfaction are the most 
striking features. He begins his career with the ultra-didactic 
attitude of Ben Jonson, at the same time often deliberately 
pandering to his public. This is a course frequently adopted 
by professed moralists, who must lure an audience to their 
plays before it is worth while to commence a sermon. The 
extreme view of popularized drama is stated in an Epilogue 
to The Triufnphant Widow : 

'T is not the Poet with celestial fire, 
Nor all the Muses that can him inspire 
To write well, 't is in you the power is had, 
'T is as you make it either good or bad. 



1 68 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

But the author who follows Horace's advice and " miscuit utile 
dulci " ^ is likely to find, unless he be as uncompromisingly- 
ethical as Jonson, that the pleasant soon drives out the greater 
part of the useful — at least that was the case in Restoration 
drama, and Newcastle seems to have proved no exception to 
the rule. For him, however, catering to the public taste brought 
little popularity in his own time, while it must serve now to 
heap further critical opprobrium upon him. 

Yet Cavendish had a certain skill in realistically picturing 
such scenes as he saw among the common people, whether it 
were his own servants or the country folk dwelling near at hand. 
Combined with that aptitude was a more or less uneven lyric 
gift, which he shared with many of his contemporaries. Some- 
times he produced as fine a piece as the serenade in The 
Variety, again his muse brought forth the unpublished dog- 
gerel cited by Mr. Strong. In sum and substance Newcastle's 
specifically literary accomplishments amounted to little, and 
one can understand how the author of The Session of the 
Poets'^ made him base his claim to eminence on the Duchess's 
writings. Rochester, if it was he, coarsely writes to the tune 
of Cock Laurel:"^ 

Newcastle and 's Horse for entrance next strives, 

Well stuff'd was his Cloakbag, & so was his Breeches. 

And unbutt'ning the place where Nature's Posset-maker lives, 
Pulled out his Wife's Poems, Plays, Essays & Speeches. 

Whoop, quoth Apollo, what a Devil have we here, 

Put up thy Wife's Trumpery, good noble Marquiss, 

And home again, home again, take thy Career, 

To provide her fresh Straw, and a Chamber that dark is. 

In less professedly artistic ways Newcastle accomplished far 
more. His books on horsemanship have gained their place 
among our standard works, but his political writings are too 

1 Ars Poetica, line 343. ' Poems on Affairs 0/ State, I, 206-21 1. • P. 209. 



"OUR ENGLISH M^CENAS " 169 

slightly known. Numerous proclamations and dispatches, the 
letter of advice to Prince Charles, and above all the " Little 
Book " deserve a wider, more general reputation. Many of the 
Duke's ideas on government are to be found in the last part 
of the Life, but to get a full and final statement of them one 
must study his address to the King. It has already been sug- 
gested that this document is a masterpiece in little, a clean- 
cut if roughly formed work of the utmost importance to phi- 
losophers, to historians, or to artists. For a man who tries to 
combine the functions of all three and would worm himself 
close to the life of a bygone day, who would strive to obtain 
a cross-section view of seventeenth-century England, to feel its 
pulsing vitality surge now as it did three hundred years ago, 
Newcastle's manuscript is invaluable. It takes hold of things 
at their roots, and whereas more imaginative forms of literature 
may reveal a nation's manners, morals, and general atmosphere 
with greater beauty or more skill, this little treatise, in criti- 
cizing past history, interprets present conditions from that 
economic standpoint which is at the basis of all human 
society. Nor can the hand of an art-lover be concealed in its 
workmanship, where proportion, balance, and specific incident 
usurp the place of the scientist's dry statistics. Newcastle has 
small right to literary fame, but his " Little Book " assures 
him of one permanent memorial. 

Not, however, as a creator but as a patron is the Duke 
chiefly important. The length and breadth of his career have 
been sufficiently discussed to prove Langbaine's comparison of 
him to Maecenas not absurd. Like the Roman, Newcastle 
was actively interested in affairs of state ; like him he wrote 
with rather poor success, while like him his main function 
was to assist and stimulate more talented artists. Both men 
were absolutely sincere, which explains the great affection 
each kindled among his followers, since it is not easy to care 



I70 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

for one's condescending benefactor. Maecenas had the more 
definite ideal, for to him hterature must be used to upbuild the 
government and it is doubtful whether Newcastle had any such 
ulterior motive. He assisted artists because he was genuinely 
interested in them and their work; giving such assistance was 
one of the unnecessary pleasures as essential to him as life 
itself. But in gathering about him these authors the Duke 
produced a larger effect than he dreamed of ; in fact he was 
exerting a decided influence upon the rising tide of patronage. 
In the Elizabethan days, to be sure, there had been noblemen 
interested in letters : the Earl of Leicester, who befriended 
Spenser and Ascham ; the Earl of Southampton, eternally 
immortalized by his connection with Shakespeare ; Sir Philip 
Sidney ; and William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke. These, 
however, were rather the exception than the rule, so that the 
supply was greatly surpassed by the ever-increasing demand 
made by professional writers under the Renaissance revival.^ 
It was not until the seventeenth century that almost every 
courtier came to have his proteges. Then there set in that 
leech-like condition of successful authorship, which Swift ridi- 
culed so keenly in 1 704 when he dedicated The Tale of a 
Tub to "His Royal Highness, Prince Posterity," but which 
was to continue until Dr. Johnson sounded its death knell by 
his letter to Lord Chesterfield in 1755. Among the men 
responsible for the rapid growth of this system none was more 
influential than Newcastle. His connection with the artistic 
world, extending from 161 7 to 1676, roughly sixty years, his 
position in politics and his inclination, all helped to make him 
a vital factor in shaping the course of English literary history. 
His influence may not have been an elevating one, yet he is a 
figure to be reckoned with, a moving force in the literature 
of his day and generation. 

1 Phoebe Sheavyn in Tke Liiera?y Profession in the Elizabethan Age, pp. 9-38. 



CHAPTER III 

THE MINOR WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 
I 

POEMS AND PSEUDO-SCIENCE (1653-1668) 

The Duke of Newcastle's importance in literary history is, 
as we have seen, not dependent on his original productions, 
but the Duchess gains her importance chiefly by virtue of the 
books she wrote. Their value, however, does not consist in 
form or contents, but in the mere fact that they exist. Easily 
the best is her Life of William, Cavendishe, which has already 
been sufficiently discussed to show that, in spite of a vivid fic- 
tional tendency, its success is largely fortuitous, its scheme es- 
sentially haphazard. What then shall be said for the Duchess's 
other works ? Plays, poems, scientific treatises, letters, orations, 
fantasies, they present a bewildering array of documents, as 
extended as it is various.^ When the numerous volumes con- 
taining them have been read and thoroughly digested, it must 
be admitted that little of permanent interest is to be found 
there. Yet one needs to remember that masterpieces have 
seldom been produced by a pioneer and that Margaret Caven- 
dish was one of the first English women seriously to under- 
take written composition. Until the seventeenth century had 
run half its course, an authoress in print was a practically 
unknown phenomenon, although between 1650 and 1700 more 

1 John Nichols in the notes to his Select Collection of Poems, 1780-1782, 
Vol. IV, p. 353, says that the manuscripts of the Duchess were given to her 
husband's college (St. John's, Cambridge), where they were to be found in 
good order. 

171 



1/2 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

than one talented woman entered the profession of literature. 
Mrs, Aphra Behn and " the matchless Orinda " share with the 
Duchess the distinction of being the first of their sex to attract 
notice by published works. Each of the three had a distinct 
and sharply defined personality, each came to her career by a 
different approach, but all together mark a common tendency, 
the growing importance of women and specifically their entrance 
into the world of letters. 

The development of this tendency, whether consciously 
or not, was largely through French influence, to which the 
Duchess was particularly subjected. In 1644, at the age of 
twenty-one, she had accompanied Henrietta Maria to France, 
living at Paris during four impressionable years, and after 
that, as we have seen in Chapter I, residing nearly as long 
in the Low Countries. This continental atmosphere must 
have had its effect on the girl, since in 1649 she commenced 
her first mature work. At any rate that appears to be the 
date, for in an " Epistle to her Braine," prefixed to Philo- 
sophical Fancies, appears the following verse : ^ 

For seven yeares 't is, since I have married bin. 

This line must have been written in 1652, and near the close 
of the same volume she gives the reader further information 
as to times and seasons : ^ 

I begun a booke about three years since, which I intend to name 
The IVorld^s Olio, and when I come into Flanders, where those 
papers are, I will (if God give me life and health) finish it, and send 
it forth in print. 

This places the Duchess's earliest extant production in 1649,^ 
two years before Mrs. Philips's first published poems * and four 

1 Walpole's Catalogue, ed. Park, III, 153. 

2 Ibid., Ill, 154. 

^ " I writ most part of it before I went into England." — A True Relation, 
Firth, p. 170. * The article on Katherine Philips in Diet. Nat. Biog. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 173 

previous to her own public appearance as a writer. In 1653 ^ 
she brought out the Poems a)id Fancies,'^ which was composed 
under the circumstances described in an introductory epistle, 
"To the Reader" :3 

If any do read this Book of mine, pray be not too severe in your 
Censures. For first I have no children to imploy my Care, and at- 
tendance on ; And my Lords Estate being taken away, had nothing 
for Housewifery or thrifty Industry to imploy my selfe in. . . . Thirdly, 
you are to spare your severe Censures, I having not so many yeares 

1 Though dated so the book may have been out by 1652, for under that 
date was written, " Upon y<^ La Margaret Marchioness of Newcastle her rare 
poems new come forth." See Hist. Mss. Comm., lo Rep., App., IV, p. 47. 

2 " In the British Museum is a copy of the Poems and Fancies with ms. 
notes by the authoress which are mentioned in the catalogue, but are neither 
many, nor curious, they occasionally inform us, these lines my lord writ." — 
Dyce's Speciviens of British Poetesses, pp. 89-90. Originally there seems to 
have been prefixed a portrait by Diepenbeck, representing the authoress 
seated " before a table on a balcony ; four cupids above her head hold up the 
folds of a curtain, and prepare to crown her with a laurel wreath; a tablet 
below is inscribed with the following verses : 

Studious She is and all Alone 

Most visitants, when She has none, 

Her Library on which She looks 

It is her Head, her Thoughts, her Books 

Scominge dead Ashes without fire 

For her owne Flames doe her Inspire." 

See Grolier Club Collections and Notes. Wither to Prior, I, 136. In some 
copies this plate is lacking, and in some, other portraits have been inserted. 
On the fly-leaf of a copy in Mr. Henry E. Huntington's library, the Earl of 
Westmoreland has written a poem of eighteen lines ending, 

The Stile, the Method & the phrase 
Doe heighten soe the Authoress' prayse 
That I should too iniurious be 
To cast into such Treasury 
For all the Graces heer are mett 
To make a Pearle of Margeret. 

^ The Duchess does not profess great ability in poetry, " for though I am a 
poetess, yet I am but a poetastress, or a petty poetess, but howsoever, I am a 
legitimate poetical child of nature, and though my poems, which are the body 
of the poetical soul, are not so beautiful and pleasing as the rest of her poeti- 
cal childrens bodies are, yet I am nevertheless her child, although but a 
hxovin&V — C CXI Sociable Letters, Letter CXLVI. 



174 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

of Experience, as will make me a Gariand to Crowne my Head ; onely 
I have had so much time, as to gather a little Poesie to stick upon 
my Breast. Lastly, the time I have been writing them, hath not been 
very long, but since I came into England, being eight Yeares out, and 
nine Months in ; and of these nine Months, onely some Houres in the 
Day, or rather in the Night. For my Rest being broke with discon- 
tented Thoughts, because I was from my Lord, and Husband, know- 
ing him to be in great Wants, and my selfe in the same Condition ; 
to divert them, I strove to turne the Stream, yet shunning the muddy 
and foule waies of Vice, I went to the Well of Helicon and by the 
Wells side, I have sat, and wrote this Worke. 

The volume is appropriately dedicated to Sir Charles Caven- 
dish, who, we know, was her companion in England, but there 
are also introductory letters, "To All Noble, and Worthy 
Ladies," "To Mistris Toppe," i "To Naturall Philosophers," 
and not a few verses which set forth the authoress's trepida- 
tion about publishing. The last begs that the reader 

Condemne me not for making such a coyle 

About my Book, alas it is my Childe. 

Just like a Bird, when her Young are in Nest, 

Goes in, and out, and hops and takes no Rest ; 

But when their Young are fiedg'd, their heads out peep, 

Lord what a chirping does the Old one keep.^ 

The first division of this book deals with physics, or, in the 
phrase of that day, "natural philosophy." It is chiefly impor- 
tant as marking the Duchess's earliest statement of her original 
scientific system, which is not science at all, but fancy, pure 
and simple. Its form of rhymed, almost jingled, couplets 
seems strongly reminiscent of the gnomic verses and mock 
epitaphs in the Hesperides, and it is probable that Herrick's 
poetry was well known to her. However, the Duchess is for 
the most part so occupied with her thought that she takes little 

1 Her waiting maid (Firth, p. 46). She is "Lady Toppe " in the third 
edition, 1668. 

2 " An Excuse for so much writ upon my Verses." 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 175 

pains in expressing it, and once or twice she even relapses 
into prose the better to explain her idea.^ Still, an occasional 
approach to poetic feeling appears in her writing ; witness 
" Of Shadow and Echo " : ^ 

A Shadow fell in love with the bright Light, 
Which makes her walke perpetually in her sight 
And when He 's absent, then poore Soule she dyes, 
But when He shewes himselfe, her Life revives. 
She sister is to Eccho loud, and cleere 
Whose voice is heard, but no Body appeare : 
She hates to see, or shew her selfe to men, 
Unless Narcissus could live once agen. 

Near the end of each part occurs a strange heading, " The 
Claspe," which seems meant to connect what goes before with 
that which follows. Her first Clasp begins with these astonish- 
ing lines, describing the throes of composition, 

When I did write this Booke, I took great paines. 
For I did walke, and thinke, and break my Braines ; 

and continues with an application of arithmetical laws to the 
passions. How this relates natural to moral philosophy may 
have been known to the Duchess, but it seems singularly 
obscure to us Philistines. At any rate her second division 
consists chiefly of "Dialogues" or Debates, — between man 
and nature, earth and cold, joy and discretion, wit and beauty, 
and "betwixt an Oake and a Man cutting him downe," with 
many other like discussions. One wonders if that " between 
a Bountifull Knight and a Castle ruin'd in War " was occa- 
sioned by knowledge of Bolsover's condition, for the castle 
bewails its plight as follows : 

^ P. 20, n., and just before " Of Elements." Also " A Circle Squar'd in 
Prose (Note : Because my Lines are too long for my Rhimes, therefore I put 
them in Prose)." 

2 Of this poem Southey writes, " Never was fancy more poetically con- 
ceived or unpoetically expressed." — Common-place Book., 4th Series, p. 334. 



176 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Where every Feild, like Gardens, is inclos'd, 
Where fresh green Grasse, and yellow Cowslips grow'd 
There did I see fat Sheep in Pastures go, 
Hearing the Cowes, whose bags were full, to low 
By Wars am now destroy'd, all Rights o'repowr'd 
Beauty, and Innocency are devoured. 

Quite the best of all these colloquies is " A Dialogue of 
Birds," 1 which has never been reprinted but deserves to be 
known for its sympathetic description of nature. The different 
birds lament how badly man treats them but explain that 
Nature should receive no blame : 

For Love is Natures chiefest Law in Mind, 
Hate but an Accident from Love we find. 
Tis true. Self- Preservation is the chiefe, 
But Luxury to Nature is a Theefe. 

Such a benevolent statement of the struggle for existence is 
hardly typical of the seventeenth century or those Hobbesian 
principles that underlay it, but it clearly reveals the Duchess's 
innate goodness. So does that delightful picture she draws of 
the birds' nest-building and their return home at night : 

But none did labour like the little Wren, 

To build her Nest, to hatch her young Ones in. 

She laies more Eggs than all the rest. 

And with much Art doth build her Nest. 

The younger sort made love, and kiss'd each others Bill 

The Cock would catch some Flies to give his Mistress still 

The Yellow hammer cried, tis wet, tis wet, 

For it vnll raine before the Sun doth set. 

Taking their Flight, as each Mind thought it best, 

Some fled abroad, and some home to their Nest. 



Then did they stretch their Wings to flye fast home 
And as like Men, from Market home they come, 
Set out alone, but every Mile adds some : 



1 Pp. 70-7 5. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 177 

Untill a Troop of Neighbours get together, 
So do a flight of Birds in Sun-shine weather. 

When they their wings had prun'd and young ones fed, 

Sate gossipping before they went to Bed. 

Let us a Carroll, said the Black-bird, sing, 

Before we go to Bed this fine evening. 

The Thrushes, Linnets, Finches, all took parts, 

A Harmony by Nature, not by Arts. 

But all their Songs were Hymnes to God on high, 

Praising his Name, blessing his Majesty. 

And when they askt for Gifts, to God did pray. 

He would be pleas'd to give them a faire day. 

At last they drowsie grew, and heavie were to sleep. 

And then instead of singing cried, Peep, Peep, 

Thus went to rest each Head, under each wing. 
For Sleep brings Peace to every living thing. 

More famous is the " Dialogue between Melancholy and 
Mirth," which gave rise to a lively description of the Duchess 
in The Connoissetir} In what purports to be a vision, certain 
female poets undertake to ride Pegasus, beginning in the 
order of their seniority : 

Upon this a lady advanced ; who, though she had something rather 
extravagant in her air and deportment, yet had a noble presence, that 
commanded at once awe and admiration. She was dressed in an old- 
fashioned habit, very fantastic, and trimmed with bugles and points ; 
such as was worn in the time of king Charles the First. This lady, I 
was informed was the duchess of Newcastle. When she came to mount, 
she sprung into the saddle with surprising agility and giving an entire 
loose to the reins, Pegasus directly set up a gallop and ran away with 
her quite out of sight. However, it was acknowledged, that she kept 
a firm seat, even when the horse went at his deepest rate ; and that 
she wanted nothing but to ride with a curb-bridle. When she came to 
dismount, Shakspeare and Milton very kindly offered their hand to 
help her down, which she accepted. Then Euterpe came up to her 
with a smile, and begged her to repeat those beautiful lines against 

1 No. LXIX for Thursday, May 22, 1775. 



178 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

melancholy, which (she said) were so extremely picturesque. The 
duchess, with a most pleasing air immediately began. . , 

Dull Melancholy . . . 
She '11 make you start at ev'ry noise you hear, 
And visions strange shall to your eyes appear. 
Her voice is low, and gives an hollow sound ; 
She hates the light, and is in darkness found ; 
Or sits by blinking lamps, or tapers small, 
Which various shadows make against the wall. 
She loves nought else but noise which discord makes. 
As croaking frogs, whose dwelling is in lakes ; 
The raven hoarse, the mandrake's hollow groan ; 
And shrieking owls, that fly i' th' night alone ; 
The tolling bell, which for the dead rings out ; 
A mill, where rushing waters run about. 
She loves to walk in the still moon-shine night, 
And in a thick dark grove she takes delight : 
In hollow caves, thatch'd houses, and low cells, 
She loves to live, and there alone she dwells. 
There leave her to herself alone to dwell. 
While you and I in mirth and pleasure swell. ^ 

All the while that these lines were repeating, Milton seemed very 
attentive ; and it was whispered by some, that he was obliged for 
many of the thoughts in his L' Allegro and // Penseroso to this 
lady's Dialogue between Mirth and Melancholy. 

As a matter of fact, Milton's lyrics were written twenty years 
before the Duchess's, but the error has often been repeated ^ 
or ignored. 

Following the "Dialogues" come "Moral Discourses," on 
love, pride, ambition, humility, and other abstractions. "' Of 
the Ant " shows minute observation of that insect's cooperative 
faculty, likening its community to the Lacedaemonians', where 

^ Leigh Hunt says there are some "very good lines" in this poem. See 
Meti, Women, arid Books, H, loi. 

2 Notably by D'Israeli in his Curiosities of Literature, where he writes that 
her "verses have been imitated by Milton," ed. 1833, II, 61, from "A 
Literary Wife." Kippis in his edition of Biographia Britannica, III, 341, " be- 
lieves " this connection to be groundless; and cf. Rhys, Everyman edition of 
the Life, p. xxii. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 179 

everything was held in common. The next Clasp voices a 
sentiment of pretty frequent occurrence in the Duchess's work : 

Give me a Stile that Nature frames, not Art ; 
For Art doth seem to take the Pedants part. 

The formlessness of her book is seen by the immediate succes- 
sion of "The Hunting of the Hare," ^ in which poor Wat's 
ultimate end is lamented in a most astonishingly humanitarian 
way, and " The Hunting of the Stag,"^ with its catalogue of 
trees, which extends for some twenty lines. Of the latter verses 
Edmund Waller is said to have " declared that he would give 
all his own compositions to have written them ; and being 
charged with the exorbitance of his adulation answered that 
' nothing was too much to be given, that a Lady might be 
saved from the disgrace of such a vile performance.' " ^ This 
Clasp is completed by "Of an Island," 

Where Grasse growes up even to the Belly high, 
Where Beasts, that chew their Cud, in Pleasure Lye, 

and by " The Ruine of the Island " after the people became so 
proud that they threw down the altars of their gods. Through- 
out her work, fantastic and romantic as it is, the Duchess 
never lets one entirely forget the unhappy state of England 
and of its nobility. 

The third division in Poems and Fancies is headed " To 
Poets " and is composed of similes, wherein death becomes 
likened to Nature's cook, the head to a barrel of wine, the 

ipp. 110-113. 2 Pp. II •^_i 16. 

3 Johnson's "Life of Waller," in Lives of the Poets, ed. Waugh, II, 50. Two 
satiric lines written on the fly-leaf of Waller's copy of Philosophical and 
Physical Opinions, 1663, may also be by that poet: 

New Castles in the air this Lady builds. 
While nonsense with Philosophy she guilds. 

The volume containing this couplet is now owned by Mr. Henry E. Huntington 
of New York City. 



i8o THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

tongue to a wheel, and many another odd conceit appears such 
as was possible only because of the Elizabethan tradition. One 
passage compares " the Sea to Meadowes, and Pastures, the 
Marriners to Shepheards, the Mast to a Maypole, Fishes to 
Beasts," and, as though that mixture of metaphors were not 
enough, a marginal note informs us that " the Ship is taken 
for a Horse." The most interesting poems in this section 
are two which come at the beginning and which illustrate 
certain literary doctrines held by our authoress. One states the 
importance of originality, and it is very fitting that the Duchess, 
who gains her place in literature by that virtue, should place so 
much emphasis upon it : 

There 's None should Places have in Fames high Court, 
But those that first do win Invention's Fort: 
Not Messengers, that onely make Report. 

The other hits at what she considers the common error of 
paying too little attention to substance and too much to the 
form of its expression : 

Most of our moderne writers now a days 
Consider not the fancy but the phrase : 
As if fine words were wit or one should say 
A woman 's handsome, if her clothes be gay : 
Regarding not what beauty 's in the face, 
Nor what proportion doth the body grace ; 

" Fantasmes Masque " occupies the following Clasp. It is 
supposed to take place in the brain and under the guise of 
a ship's voyage narrates Margaret Lucas's wanderings. Her 
setting forth, the haven of refuge in France, the union with a 
noble lord, her subsequent poverty and expedition to the North 
would leave no room for doubt as to this identification, even 
if it were not for the couplet. 

But when the Stormes of Dangers all were past, 
Upon the Coast of it was cast. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS i8l 

When the authoress was writing in England she did not know 
on what shore her future lot would fall, but in the 1664 revi- 
sion of her book the word " Flanders " is inserted to fill that 
blank. The next part, "To all Writing Ladies," is mainly 
given over to verses on the Queen of Fairies. The Duchess 
wonders that people should not believe these little creatures 
exist, " for Nature can as well make small bodies, as great, 
and thin bodies as well as thicke. We may as well thinke 
there is no Aire, because we do not see it." ^ 

There are four poems devoted to this subject : " The Fairy 
Queen," " The Pastime and Recreation of the Queen of Fairies 
in Fairyland," " The Pastime of the Queen of Fairies, when 
she comes upon the Earth out of the Center," and " Her de- 
scending downe." Naturally these themes give full play to the 
Duchess's fancy, but the subject is not an original one. More- 
over, echoes of Herrick and Shakespeare are well-nigh inevita- 
ble in any work patterned upon theirs. The Newcastle fairies, 
like Herrick's Oberon, eat off a mushroom table,^ feast on ants' 
eggs,^ and have a palace illuminated by glowworms' eyes.* 
The Duchess names her queen Mab, as Mercutio does, and 
both mention the royal chariot's being made from a nutshell.^ 
Most striking parallel of all is the account of Hobgoblin's 
pranks when compared with Puck's in A Midsummer- Nigh f s 
Dreamt In every case the lady proves inferior to her 

1 " To the Readers Concerning Fairies." 

2 Hesperides, No. 294, line 7 ; and " Pastime and Recreation." 
2 Hesperides, No. 294, line 3 ; and " Pastime and Recreation." 
* Hesperides, No. 444, line 7 ; and " Pastime and Recreation." 
^ Romeo ajid Juliet, I, 4 ; and " Pastime and Recreation." 

^ Act II, scene i; and "Pastime of the Queen of Fairies." This and 
other passages from A Midsummer Nighfs Dream are imitated in Drayton's 
Nymphidia and in The Pranks of Puck. See notes to Rolfe's edition of the 
play. Drayton was a connecting link in the fairy tradition but does not seem 
to have had any direct influence on Margaret, in spite of the Cambridge His- 
tory, IV, 193 ; the windows of his palace are made from cats' eyes and his 
queen's chariot is the shell of a snail. 



1 82 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

predecessors, as was to be expected; only in an "Epilogue" 
to the series does she attain real novelty and real charm, 
mingled with a most gracious account of her relations with 
Newcastle's brother : 

Sir Charles unto my chamber coming in, 

When I was writing of my Fairy Queen ; 

I pray, said he, when Queen Mab you do see 

Present my service to her Majesty ; 

And tell her I have heard Fame's loud report 

Both of her beauty and her stately court. 

When I Queen Mab within my fancy viewed,^ 

My thoughts bowed low, fearing I should be rude ; 

Kissing her garment thin which fancy made, 

Kneeling upon a thought, like one that prayed ; 

In whispers soft, I did present 

His humble service which in mirth was sent ; 

Thus by imagination I have been 

In Fairy court and seen the Fairy Queen. 

For why, imagination runs about 

In every place, yet none can trace it out.^ 

The following Clasp nearly spoils this fairy poetry by trying 
to relate it to the Duchess's scientific system of atoms which 
are at war within the human body. That brings in an "Epistle 
to Souldiers " and introduces a section occupied with battles, 
varying from one between courage and prudence to one be- 
tween King Oberon and the Pygmies. These martial themes 

1 Compare a stanza formerly supposed to be by John Donne, but now 
ascribed to Sir John Harington {Cambridge History, IV, 209). Of his lady-love 
he writes : g^ absence this good means I gain 

That I can catch her, 
Where none can watch her, 
In some close comer of my brain ; 
There I embrace and kiss her 
And so enjoy her, and none miss her. 

2 M. fimile Montegut with a truly Gallic point of view imagines that this 
epilogue reveals a secret love the Duchess felt for her brother-in-law. See La 
Duchesse et le Due de Newcastle, pp. 222-323. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 183 

are appropriately succeeded by "A Register of Mournfull 
Verses," that is, a series of laments without any special pur- 
pose or unity. Appended to the poems is a prose treatise of 
twelve pages 1 entitled "The Animall Parliament," where the 
soul, the thoughts, and the body take order for the preser- 
vation of their world. There are various complaints lodged 
concerning abuses in ears, eyebrows, teeth, and stomach, but 
the chief grievance is "that the Puritans and Roman Priests 
cut downe all the stately and thick woods of Haire, as there 
is almost none left grown to build ships of ornament with . . . 
besides the prodigall effeminate Sex burns it up with Iron 
workes, or breaks it off at the rootes, in making traps for 
Lovers." Indeed, the Duchess seems to lay much censure 
upon the dictates of fashion, which, as we shall see, she her- 
self refused to follow. 

The last three pages in this volume ^ are composed of sev- 
eral short pieces, setting forth some of the authoress's main 
hobbies. There is a prose as well as a verse statement that 
expression of one's thought is not so important as the thought 
itself, with a very frank confession of her own delinquencies 
in rhyme and metre. There is comment upon the prevalence 
of backbiting criticism, and a final word deals with the Duke's 
excellences, this time in connection with literature : 

A Poet I am neither born nor bred, 
But to a witty poet married : 
Whose brain is fresh and pleasant as the Spring, 
Where Fancies grow and where the Muses sing. 
There oft I lean my head, and list'ning, harke, 
To heare his words and all his fancies mark : 
And from that garden Flowers of Fancies take 
Whereof a posie up in verse I make. 
Thus I, that have no garden of my own, 
There gather flowers that are newly blowne. 

1 Pp. 199-2 H. 2 pp 211-214. 



1 84 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Newcastle certainly reciprocated, for in the second edition 
(1664) 1 he addressed a panegyric to his wife, which after com- 
paring her in favorable terms with Spenser, Jonson, Fletcher, 
and Shakespeare, not to mention Van Dyck, modestly concludes, 

I thought to Praise you, but alas, my Way 
To yours, is Night unto a Glorious Day.'^ 

An added note in the earlier edition declares, " Reader, I 
have a little Tract of Philosophicall Fancies in Prose, which 
will not be long before it appear in the World." This was 
not, however, the first work on the subject that the Duchess 
had written. In an "Introductory Epistle" to the Life she 
placidly records that '" it pleased God to command his serv- 
ant Nature to indue me with a poetical and philosophical 
genius, even from my birth ; for I did write some books in 
that kind, before I was twelve years of age, which for want 
of good method and order, I would never divulge." ^ And in 
another place : * 

You desired me to send you the Sixteen Books I Writ in my Child- 
hood; methinks they sound like the Twelve Labours of Hercules, 
only that there are Four Labours more ... In my Sixteen Books is 
Sense and No Sense, Knowledge and Ignorance, Mingled together, 
so that you will not know what to make of it ; or in a Lower Com- 
parison, you will find every Book like a Frippery, or Brokers-shop, 
wherein is nothing but Remnants, Bits and Ends of Several things, 
or Uke Taylors Shreds, that are not fit for any Use ; wherefore I can- 
not Imagine why you should Desire them, unless out of a Friendship, 
you will See, and Bum them before I Die, fearing I should Neglect 

1 There was a third issue in 1668 under the transformed title of " Poems or 
Several Fancies in Verse : with the Animal Parliament, in Prose." 

2 Clarendon writes to Newcastle on May 30, 1653, that he has diligently 
studied " my ladyes booke " (probably the Poems and Fancies) " and could not 
have believed ... so many tearmes of arte, and such expressyons proper to 
all sciences and to all kinds of learninge could have flowed from a person 
unskilled in any but our mother tongue, which is now made much more 
copyous than it was." — Calendar of Clarendon Papers, II, 209. 

8 Firth, p.xxxvi. * C CXI Sociable Letters, Letter CXXXI. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 185 

the Sacrificing of them my self, for you are Pleased not only to send 
for One, but all the Sixteen. But, I suppose, you believe them to 
be so many several sheets of Paper folded into Quarters, or Half 
Quarters, as into little Baby-books, for it was in my Baby-years I 
writ them, and it had been well they had been no Bigger than Baby- 
Books, but the least of these Books are two or three Quires of 
Paper ; Neither can you Read them when you have them, unless you 
have the Art or Gift to Read Unknown Letters, for the Letters are 
not only Unlegible, but each Letter stands so Cowardly from th' other, 
as all the Lines of your Sight cannot Draw, or Bring them into Words.'^ 
. . . Moreover there are such huge Blots as I may Similize them 
to Broad Seas or Vast Mountains . . . Also there are Long, Hard 
Scratches, which will be as Bad for your Eyes, as Long, Stony 
Lanes would be to your Feet ; wherefore let me persuade you as Your 
Friend, not Desperately to Venture to Read them, since you can 
neither receive Profit nor Pleasure in the Labour. 

The World's Olio, her first fully developed work, contains 
some few opinions on physics,^ which were first published 
as Part I of Poems and Fancies, to be rearranged but not 
materially altered in 1664. As the authoress asserts in pro- 
testing their originality, " though the Opinion of Atoms is as 
Old as from the Time of Epicnrns, yet my Conceptions of 
their Figures, Creating and Disposing are New, and my Own." ^ 
She goes on to say that she felt the world could not be made 

^ " You might think I had been bound to the Profession of a Scrivener 
not to Write an Intelligible Hand, but to make Wast Paper, for they being 
paid for the most part by the Sheets and not by the Letters, put as few Letters 
in a Sheet of Paper as subtilly as they can, leaving a Large Space betwixt 
every Line, and they make their Letters as Big, and Broad as they may, as 
not to misshape them, also with Large and Long Flourishing Scratches." — 
CCXI Sociable Letters, Letter CXXXIV. 

^ Marvell in the Last Ifistructions to a Pahiter writes : 

Paint then again her Highness to the life 
Philosopher beyond Newcastle's wife. 

See The Muses' Library, Satires, p. 22. 

8 "Another Epistle to the Reader," prefixed to the 1663 edition of Philo- 
sophical and Physical Opinions. Compare " Thats an old opinion of Atomes, 
say some, witnesse Democrates and many others." — " An Epistle to Justifie the 
Lady Newcastle" prefixed to Philosophical and Physical Opinions, 1655. 



1 86 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

of atoms unless each one had Hfe and knowledge, yet all must 
be under some mightier force, called God, or there would 
be confusion amongst them. How this idea tended to subor- 
dinate the conception of atoms is further explained in the 
same context : 

But my Opinion of Atoms, in my Book of Poems is, if the Infinite 
and Eternal Matter be Atoms, that those Figures of Atoms, which I 
there mention, as Round, Square, Long, Triangular, Pointed and all 
other Figures, are part of those Figures which make Air, Fire, Water 
and Earth, and how they are Disposed in the Creation of Animals, 
Vegetables and Minerals ; also that the Weight and Quantity of each 
Atom must be Alike, for if every Atom be so small as in Nature it 
can be, then the Weight and Quantity of each Atom must be Alike, 
all which I treat of in my Book of Poems ; but by reason it is in 
Verse, it is not so Clearly or Solidly Expressed, as I might have done 
it in Prose ; besides it was the First of my Works that I Divulged, 
being Printed in the Year 1653, in which Year also I caused to be 
Printed the first Edition of my Philosophical and Physical Opinions, 
but since that time I have thought more of it, and could give Better 
Reasons concerning Atoms than I could then, having since Spent the 
most of my Time in Contemplations ; but now I Wave the Old Opinion 
of Atoms, for it is not probable, they should be the Cause of such 
Effects as are in Nature, and it seemeth not so Clearly to my Reason 
as these my Own and Absolutely New Opinions of Natural Philosophy. 

The 1653 edition of Philosophical and Physical Opinions, 
to which allusion is here made, coincides with the " little tract 
of Philosophicall Fancies " promised at the end of Poems and 
Fancies. It was composed in 1652 and published on May 21 
of the next year as Philosophicall fancies, written by the 
Rt. Hon. the Lady Newcastle,^ but in its revision two years 
later was known by the longer title. Before 1655 the Duchess 
had already returned to Flanders,^ and accordingly her husband 
introduced the reprint by a laudatory poem, with "An Epistle 
To justifie the Lady Newcastle, and Truth against falshood, 

1 Catalogue of the British Museum. 

2 A True Eelatiofi, Firth, p. 170. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 187 

laying those false, and malicious aspersions of her, that she 
was not Author of her Books." The wonder of a woman as 
writer may have caused these doubts, for otherwise it is diffi- 
cult to understand how she could be considered a plagiarist. 
All her writings, whether pseudo-scientific or professedly imagi- 
native, are so fantastic and individual as to be indisputably 
her own invention.^ Nevertheless the Duchess was much dis- 
turbed by adverse criticism, especially that directed against 
her originality, and herself wrote a lengthy address, " To the 
Reader," repudiating these charges. There are numerous other 
introductions set before the work and a dedication " ' To the 
Two Universities," as they ought to encourage any idealistic 
movement for the emancipation of women, " lest in time we 
should grow irrational idiots ... for we are kept like birds in 
cages to hop up and down in our houses, not suffered to fly 
abroad to see the several changes of fortune, and the vari- 
ous humours, ordained and created by nature ; thus wanting 
the experiences of nature, we must needs want the under- 
standing and knowledge and so consequently prudence, and 
invention of men." ^ 

The difference in emphasis between Part I of Poems arid 
Fancies and Philosophical and Physical Opinions may be seen 
at a glance ; for the earlier interest centers in what kinds of 
atoms compose diverse elements, 

The Square flat Atomes as dull Earth appeare, 
The Atomes Round do make the Water cleere. 
The Long streight Atomes like to Arrowes fly, 



^ Rhys (p. xviii) supposes " she had read and pondered " Hobbes's De- 
cameron Physiologicum, which did not appear until 1678, five years after her 
death. If Hobbes's basic theory of motion, as fully expounded in his De 
Corpore (Latin Works, Vol. I), did have any influence on the Duchess, it was 
of the slightest, and entirely unknown to herself. Even so, her imaginative 
extension of this germinal principle justifies her claim to originality. 

2 " To the Two Universities." 



1 88 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Mount next the points and make the Aiery Skie ; 
The Sharpest Atomes do into Fire turne, 
Which by their piercing quality they burne.^ 

In the later book the first heading is "Of Matter and Motion," 
which, directed by figure, form Nature. Matter is infinite, 
the Duchess claims, and its changed form is only motion, 
external or internal, working upon it : ^ 

Motions do work according as they finde 
Matter that 's fit and proper for each kinde. 

All of which are possible improbabilities accounting for the 
never-ending, inexplicable mystery of life. It should be borne 
in mind, here, at the outset of any discussion concerning the 
Duchess's scientific views, that there is nothing essentially 
impossible about them, for they do not run counter to estab- 
lished principles. At the same time they are not in the least 
scientific, because they are not based upon observation and 
experimentation ; their connection with recorded fact is of the 
slightest and comes entirely from second-hand experience.^ 
The Duke in common with many men of his day felt a genu- 
ine interest in scientific investigation, but the feminine mind 
of his wife could grasp only the external trappings of such 
research. For this lack of rational power she unconsciously 
substituted an overactive imagination but wisely did not dis- 
pute what had been already established by proof. Instead, she 
began where others left off, and, her fancy soaring above 

1 " The four principall figur'd Atomes make the foure Elements as Square, 
Round, Long and Sharpe," in Poems and Fancies, Part I. 

2 " Of the Working of several Motions of Nature," § 32 in Philosophical 
and Physical Opinions, 1655. 

8 It is illuminating to compare the Duchess's lack of scientific procedure 
with Francis Bacon's superfluity of it. In the second book of the Novum 
Orgaiium he exemplifies his methods in proving a thesis not unallied to the 
Duchess's : that heat is a special case of motion. Even so much particularity 
in such a limited field, however, did not attain the whole truth and nothing 
but the truth. See Works of Bacon, ed. Spedding, Ellis, and Heath, I, 225-365. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 189 

mundane things, attempted to pierce beyond human knowledge. 
Her system does not explain the laws that govern our being, 
nor does it offer a solution for the problem of existence. It 
chooses a middle course, in professing to reveal the machinery 
by which God rules his universe. 

Part II of Philosophical and Physical Opinions treats " Of 
Fortune," that is to say of Nature, with renewed emphasis 
on the subject of motions : attraction, contraction, retention, 
and the like. Part III continues in the same strain to show 
how motion may change one element into another, without 
any intrinsic shift of matter. Now the Duchess is so near 
scientific truth as to assert that colors are broken lines of 
light from the sun ; ^ and again, she fantastically declares 
that tides are due to the extension of individual drops in the 
ocean.^ '" Of the Motion of the Bodie," Part IV, explains 
the two kinds of movable innate matter, rational and sensi- 
tive, standing for mind and body respectively. The last part, 
"The Natural Wars in Animal Figures," takes up various 
diseases^ on the basis of those unnatural motions that are 
supposed to cause them and suggests remedies calculated to 
restore a normal condition in the human system. Thus con- 
sumptions are said to be the result of unnatural expulsions ; ^ 
palsies, of supernatural extenuation of the nerves ; ^ pain in 
general, of cross or jumbling motions.^ Finally, the impor- 
tance of a proper correspondence between outward objects 
and inward motions, whether sensitive or rational, is insisted 
upon as necessary for all health and sanity.'^ 

1 § 120. 2 §§ 127-128. 

3 " But would you know how we know the great Mystery of these Physical 
terms, I am almost ashamed to tell you ; not that we have been ever sickly, 
but by Melancholy often supposed ourselves to have such diseases as we 
have not." — Newcastle's " Epistle to Justifie the Lady Newcastle," prefixed 
to Philosophical and Physical Opinions, 1655. 

* § 191. 5 § 193. 6 § 171. 7 |§ 204-206. 



I90 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Then at the end of this strange book its author definitely 
states that all her ideas are merely the working out of infinite 
deity in terms of infinite matter and motion. Section 210, 
"The Diatical Centers," is an expression of the Duchess's 
broad, if vague, religious belief, summed up in the last 
sentence : 

And though nature is infinite matter, motion and figure creating all 
things out of its self, for of matter they are made, and by motion they 
are formed into several and particular figures, yet this Deity orders 
and disposes of all natures works. 

This creed is further formulated in a rhymed address to the 

Divinity : 

Great God, from Thee all infinites do flow ; 

And by thy power from thence effects do grow ; 

Thou orderest all degrees of matter, just 

As tis thy will and pleasure move it must. 

And by thy knowledge order'st all the best, 

For in thy knowledge doth thy wisdom rest ; 

And wisdom cannot order things amiss, 

For where disorder is, no wisdom is. 

Besides, great God, thy will is just, for why? 

Thy will still on thy wisdom doth rely. 

O pardon Lord, for what, I now hear speak 

Upon a guesse my knowledge is but weak ; 

But thou hast made such creatures as mankinde 

And gav'st them somthing which we cal a mind, 

Alwayes in motion, never quiet lies 

Untill the figure, of his body dies, 

His several thoughts, which several motions are 

Do raise up love, hope, joyes, doubts and fear ; 

As love doth raise up hope, so fear doth doubt 

Which makes him seek to find the great God out : 

Selflove doth make him seek to finde, if he 

Came from, or shall last to eternity. 

But motion being slow, makes knowledge weak, 

And then his thoughts 'gainst ignorance doth beat, 

As fluid waters 'gainst hard rocks do flow, 

Break their soft streams, and so they backward go : 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 191 

Just so do thoughts, and then they backward sUde, 
Unto the place, where first they did abide ; 
And there in gentle murmurs, do complain, 
That all their care and labour is in vain ; 
But since none knows, the great Creator must, 
Man seek no more, but in his greatness trust. 

The same thought occurs in '" An Epistle to the Reader " 
prefixed to the 1663 revision of this book, in condemning any- 
presumptuous attempt to prove there is a God : 

Men cannot Prove, what they cannot possibly know, for God hath 
not given any one Creature nor All Creatures, were they Joyned into 
One, a Sufficiency to Know him, and since God is so much Above 
Nature, or Natural Matter, as I a Single Creature cannot Guess at 
Him, I will not Dispute on Him, but Pray to that Incomprehensible 
and Inexpressible Deity, to Favour me with that which is Best 
for me. 

These passages are especially worth noting, as it has been 
on several occasions ^ remarked that the Duchess lacked true 
religious feeling. Her belief was perhaps neither supremely 
intellectual nor ecstatically devout, but it was sincere and it 
was not narrow. Moreover, it seems to have been ever present 
in the background of her consciousness. 

The second edition of Philosophical and Physical Opinions 
varies so much from the original one as to demand special 
consideration. Parts I, II, and III cover the same ground as 
Part I in the earlier volume, a distinction being made between 
animate and inanimate matter, the latter a medium through 
which the sensitive animate matter works. Further emphasis 
too is laid upon man as a specific figure, and his motions are 
particularly examined. Parts IV-VII amplify Parts II-V of 
the 1655 volume, treating each division in far greater detail. 
The list of sicknesses with their remedies has increased 

^ TTie Cavalier and his Lady, ed. Jenkins, p. 126, n. ; and Montegut's La 
Duchesse et le Due de Neweastle, pp. 335-339. 



192 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

exceedingly, and in the chapter on fluxes we get a personal 
reminiscence combined with the prescription : ^ 

In all sorts or degrees of Fluxes there is nothing better than Lauda- 
num, such as is prepared by Doctor Davidson's Prescription ; the 
Quantity must be from One Grain to Two or Three, but above Four 
must not be taken, and to put it in a Small Pill of Bread and so 
Swallow it down ; the time of Taking is, when the Patient goes to 
sleep, but the patient must not Eat nor Drink in Three Hours before 
taking of it, and when taken, He still to Rest ; as for this Laudanum I 
have had Experience, for when I was in France with the Queen of Eng- 
land, I had Died of a Purging Flux if I had not taken Doctor Davidson's 
Laudanum and he gave it to me every Night for a week together. 

What the Duke thought of his wife's scientific views may- 
be gathered from "His Opinion concerning the Ground of 
Natural Philosophy" at the end of her book. As we have 
seen in his relations with Hobbes, Newcastle had a real knowl- 
edge of physics, so that he must have been gently poking fun 
at the Duchess's theory of " motion " when he wrote : 

Since now it is A-la-mode to Write of Natural Philosophy, and I 
know, no body Knows what is the Cause of any thing, and since they 
are all but Guessers, not Knowing, it gives every Man room to Think 
what he lists, and so I mean to Set up for my self, and play at this 
Philosophical Game as follows, without Patching or Stealing from any 
Body. They talk that Motion doth every thing, I grant it, but this 
Motion must be from Some-thing. They say, This Motion and Spirit 
was put in at the Creation of the World . . . Why, then, thus for 
my Opinion That Salt is the Life that giveth the Motion to all things 
in the World. 

He goes on to describe an experiment in which saltpetre and 
inflamed brimstone appeared just like the sun, and concludes : 

This is my Opinion, which I think can as hardly be Disproved as 
Proved since any Opinion may be Right or Wrong, for anything that 
anybody knows, for certainly there is none can make a Mathematical 
Demonstration of Natural Philosophy, and so I leave it to the Mercy 
of my Readers. 

1 Edition of 1663, Part VII, § 43. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 193 

The Duchess could hardly have perceived her husband's irony 
here ; indeed, she seems to have been completely lacking in 
a sense of humor. Otherwise she would not have admitted 
this address into a work which she regarded with such lofty 
seriousness. She even writes concerning it : 

Of all my Works, this Work which I have Writ, 
My Best Belov'd and Greatest Favorite, 
I look upon it with a Pleasing Eye, 
I Pleasure take in its Sweet Company ; 
I Entertain it with a Grave Respect, 
And with my Pen am ready to Protect, 
The Life and Safety of it 'gainst all those, 
That will Oppose it, or Profess it Foes : 
But I am sure, there 's none Condemn it can, 
Unless some Foolish and Unlearned Man, 
That hath no Understanding, Judgment, Wit, 
For to perceive the Reason that 's in it. 

The Opinions were issued again in 1668 under another title, 
Grotmds of Natural Philosophy Divided into Thirteen Parts : 
with an Appendix cofttaining Five Parts. The Second Edi- 
tion, mtich altered from the first which tvent under the Name 
of Philosophical and Physical Opinions, and with a compre- 
hensive dedication, "To all the Universities in Europe." The 
alterations are extended enough to justify a change in title for 
the work, although there are few new ideas expressed in it ; 
rearrangements and amplifications make up the most radical 
differences. After a general statement of her system (Part I), 
the Duchess passes to a consideration of creatures (Part II), 
and so to productions (Parts III and IV). That brings her to 
man (Part V) and his motions (Part VI), notably sleeping or 
waking (Part VII), together with irregular sicknesses (Parts 
VIII-X). The marked diversity in creatures (Part XI) sug- 
gests a discussion of elements (Part XII), of metals, and of 
vegetables (Part XIII). It may be seen that our authoress has 



194 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

attacked her material from a novel angle, but the results she 
obtains are almost identical with her previously published 
judgments. 

Part I of the Appendix deals with Immaterials and Materials, 
that is, God and Nature ; Parts II-IV consist in an argument 
between parts of the mind about regular and irregular worlds. 
These latter terms are found to be synonymous with happy 
and miserable worlds, which the Duchess discusses at some 
length. Part V, "Concerning Restoring-beds or Wombs," ^ 
shows how firmly her imagination had seized upon the subject 
of reproduction, no doubt because of that problem's basic im- 
portance and its absolute inexplicability. The theory of a con- 
tinuous mobile existence for matter is fantastically set forth : ^ 

The last Conception of my Mind, concerning Restoring-Beds was, 
That the Parts of my Mind did conceive, That the Center of the 
whole Universe, was the Sea, and in the Center of the Sea was a 
small Island ; and in the Center of the Island, was a Creature, like (in 
the outward Form) to a great and high Rock : Not that this Rock was 
Stone ; but, it was of such a nature, (by the natural Compositions of 
Parts) that it was compounded of Parts of all the principal Kinds and 
Sorts of the Creatures of this World, viz. Of Elemental, Animal, 
Mineral and Vegetable kinds : and, being of such a nature, did pro- 
duce out of it self, all kinds and sorts of Restoring-Beds . . . nor can 
they produce new Creatures, but only restore former Creatures ; as, 
those that had been Produced, and were partly Dissolved. 

Truly the Duchess's muse knew no bounds, and she might 
have gone on spinning fancies around her philosophy to the 
end of the chapter. Each time she revised a book its bulk 
was sure to increase, usually with a corresponding loss in artistic 
value. Little harm was done to these pseudo-scientific works, 
however, as at their best they are of slight literary importance 
except as revealing the quality of our authoress's mind and 
art. She was not even content with the numerous mediocre 

1 Pp. 291-309. 2 pp 308-309. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 195 

variations upon her Opinions but must needs produce more 
works to set forth still other aspects of the physical system 
she had created. 

Such was the Philosophical Letters : or modest Reflectio7is 
Up07i some Opinions in Natural Philosophy, mahitained by 
several Famous and Learned Ajithors of this Age, Expressed 
by way of Letters, printed at London in 1664. In " A Preface 
to the Reader," the Duchess states that she has read much of 
certain scientific writers lately and now better understands the 
technical terms than she did before, " for my error was I began 
to write so early, that I had not liv'd so long as to be able to 
read many Authors ; I cannot say I divulged my opinions as 
soon as I had conceiv'd them, but I divulg'd them too soon 
to have them artificial and methodical," She admits her weak- 
nesses but dislikes having concessions made because of her sex : 

I have been informed, that if I should be answered in my Writings, 
it would be done rather under the name and cover of a Woman, than 
of a Man, the reason is, because no man dare or will set his name to 
the contradiction of a Lady ; and to confirm you the better herein, 
there has one Chapter of my Book called The Worlcfs Olio^ treating 
of a Monastical Life, been answer'd already in a little Pamphlet, 
under the name of a woman, although she did httle towards it; 
wherefore it being a Hermaphroditical Book, I judged it not worthy 
taking notice of. 

The distinguishing feature of the Duchess's volume is its 
form — that of letters to a supposed lady who has sent the 
authoress the works of Hobbes, Descartes, Dr. More, and Van 
Helmont, asking her opinion of their writings. In Section I she 
takes up Hobbes's Leviathan and Elements of Philosophy, 
with that part of Descartes which had been translated for her ; ^ 
Section II deals with Dr. More's Antidote and Of the Lmmor- 
tality of the Soul; Section III is given over to Van Helmont. 

^ See "A Preface to the Reader," where she states her ignorance of any 
languages other than her native tongue. 



196 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Each author is considered only in so far as he disagrees with 
the Duchess's theories, the passages discussed are chosen quite 
arbitrarily, and the whole plan simmers down into one more 
statement of the Opinwns. Section IV in fact leaves actual 
authors behind and ventures into whatever fields appear most 
tempting. One or two matters of detail are worked out more 
fully than in the earlier volumes, and some few terms are 
changed. " Matter " is no more to be called " spirits " as it 
was in the first edition of the Opinions} while "animate 
matter," which with inanimate matter makes up Nature, is for 
the future " corporeal self-motion," ^ " Perception " is defined 
as " sensation," the working of sensitive animate matter .^ 
Generally this matter copies outward objects in the body's 
inanimate matter but occasionally moves in itself without pat- 
terns.^ Yet the other division of animate matter, the rational, 
always works in its own essence and more often with no pat- 
terns.^ The Deity, it is again asserted, is beyond human com- 
prehension : ^ " Oh ! the audacious curiosity of Man ! Is it 
not blasphemy to make the Infinite God of a frail and human 
shape, and to compare the most Holy to a sinful Creature ? " 
Philosophical Letters was dedicated to the University of 
Cambridge, as was the Duchess's remaining scientific book, 
Observatio7is upon Experimental Philosophy, printed first in 
1666, and again in 1668. As usual there are numerous intro- 
ductory epistles before this work, of which the most striking 
is a dialogue between two speakers, headed "An Argumental 
Discourse Concerning some Principal Subjects in Natural 
Philosophy ; necessary for the better understanding, not onely 

1 Section II, Letter XXXIV, and Section III, Letter XVI. 

2 Section IV, Letter XXXIII. 

3 Section II, Letter XVI. 

4 Section I, Letter IV, and Section IV, Letter XXIX. 
6 Section I, Letter VII. 

6 Section III, Letter XXII. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 197 

of this but all other Philosophical Works, hitherto written by 
the Authoresse." It contains a simile well calculated to im- 
press the Duchess's system on the reader, when the rational 
part is likened to an architect, the sensitive to workmen, and 
the inanimate to their material. As may be gathered from its 
title, this volume was apparently intended to approach the sub- 
ject from a truly scientific point of view. In the " Observations " 
proper there are abundant references to magnifying glasses,^ 
the loadstone,^ to seeds ^ and telescopes,* but by the time "Fur- 
ther Observations" are reached the author is pleading for more 
contemplation and less experimentation in science.^ Then fol- 
low certain "Observations upon the Opinions of some Ancient 
Philosophers" treated in much the same manner as those 
modern arguments she had discussed in the Letters. Finally, 
"An Explanation of Some obscure and doubtful passages 
occurring in the Philosophical Works, hitherto published by 
the Authoresse," gives " matter " its latest name of " corporeal 
figurative motion." Inanimate matter is said to have life and 
self-knowledge according to its nature, but no self-motion, that 
depending on the animate matter working through it. "Sense" 
is interpreted as "life," and "reason" as "knowledge," but 
there are practically no important deviations from the system 
as originally propounded. 

The vogue of these so-called philosophical books has, need- 
less to say, been extremely restricted. They are valueless from 
a scientific point of view but crowded with all the meticulous 
detail demanded by that branch of human knowledge. The 
fantasy in them is in such small proportion to their vast bulk 
as to be scarcely worth the search. Their general style is so 
redundant and complicated that one can understand it only 

M3- '§6. 3 §15. 4 §34. 

6 § I. She also quotes from Poems and Fancies, whence her system arose, 
§ 8. She did this too in Philosophical Letters, Section IV, Letter IX. 



198 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

with great labor and effort. It is no wonder that James Bristow 
of Christ Church College, Oxford, did not get far in translat- 
ing these volumes into Latin. He began " upon a desire of 
those whom she had appointed to inquire out a fit person for 
such a matter ; ^ but he finding great difficulties therein through 
the confusedness of the matter, gave over."^ The world is no 
whit the poorer for his failure, as it conceivably might be with- 
out the original versions. Certainly they are unique and on 
that score alone are worthy to be preserved. Likewise they 
help to reveal the Duchess's eccentric personahty and fantastic 
imagination, although fanciful science is a paradoxical form of 
art not deserving extensive cultivation. 



II 

THE WORLD'S OLIO (1655) AND NATURE'S PICTURES {1656) 

The World's Olio, as has been seen, was composed for the 
most part in 1649, but was not published until 1655. "Most 
of this Book was written five years since," it tells us,^ "and 
was lock'd up in a Trunk, as if it had been buried in a Grave ; 
but when I came back from England, I gave it a Resurrec- 
tion : After a view, I judged it not so well done, but that a 
little more care might have placed the words so, that the Lan- 
guage might have run smoother, which would have given the 
Sense a greater lustre ; but I being of a lazie disposition, did 
chuse to let it go into the World with its Defects, rather than 

^ Jasper Mayne undertook to find a translator. See his letter of May 20, 1663, 
in the 1676 volume of Letters and Poems to the Duchess. 

2 Wood's Athence, Vol. II, Col. 160. Also John Harmar latinized "one or 
more of the plays of Margaret dutchess of Newcastle for which he was well 
rewarded." — Wood, III, 920. 

2 This sentence may very likely have been composed the year before its 
appearance, which would make the statement quite correct. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 199 

take the pains to refine it." ^ The Duchess dedicates this 
volume to Fortune, explaining to her husband,^ "that when I 
have writ all I mean to print, I intend (if I live) to Dedicate 
all my Works together unto you." To Sir Charles Cavendish 
she offers " payments of Prayers " ^ for his earlier generosity 
and in another foreword begs that whoever reads this book 
aloud will carefully articulate its words. ^ " The Preface " 
proper excuses her deficiencies on the ground that " Nature 
hath made Man's Body more able to endure Labour, and 
Man's Brain more clear to understand and contrive, than 
those of Women ; and as great a difference there is between 
them, as there is between the longest and strongest Willow, 
compared to the strongest and largest Oak." She goes on to 
say that some women have complained because they do not 
receive education,^ but those that have been instructed turn 
out no better than the others ; they can only work " like Apes, 
by Imitation." Finally, too much freedom is dangerous for 
women, so that nature has given man strength to govern the 
weaker sex. 

The Olio^ itself lives up to its name, but the numerous 
short sections, although individually unrelated, when taken 
one after another trace their authoress's train of thought. 



1 " Advertisement to the Reader." 

2 "To his Grace the Duke of Newcastle," in 1671 edition. 

2 " An Epistle that was writ before the death of the Noble Sir Charles 
Cavendish, my most Noble Brother in law," in the 167 1 edition. 

* Sociable Letter CLXXIII also takes up at some length the importance 
and difficulty of oral reading. 

5 This may refer to herself, for in " To the Universities," prefixed to the 
1655 edition of Philosophical and Physical Opitiions, she strongly urges that 
further opportunities be granted to women. The truth seems to be that the 
Duchess's conviction and desire were at odds over this point. 

^ In 1657 S. Du Verger published Humble Reflections Upon some Passages 
of the Right Hoftorable the Lady Marchionesse of JVewcastW s Olio. Or An 
Appeale from her mesinformed to her ozvti better informed iudgemetit. See 
Hazlitt's Collections and Notes, Third Series, 1887, p. 21. 



200 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

No general unity binds them together, yet each is connected 
in idea with the preceding paragraph, however foreign it may 
be to the preceding page. The result is a string of observa- 
tions which might have been arranged in an artistic pattern, 
but, as so often with the Duchess, nature here completely domi- 
neers over art. Book I, Part I, expatiates on fame, whence 
it logically passes to writings of various kinds, then proceeding 
to translation, languages, discourses, wisdom, music, and inven- 
tion. Part II condemns excesses in gluttony or asceticism, 
dilates upon passion's power over mankind, and insists that 
one's mind should rule one's body. Part III commences with 
diplomacy and wars but soon enters upon analysis of human 
nature. An interesting section, '" Of the Breeding of Chil- 
dren," ^ advises parents not to permit baby talk, such as 
"do, do" for "go," " tum " for "come," or "My Chid tant 
open its Nies " instead of " My Child cannot open its Eyes." 
The Duchess is quite modern in her theories, but it must be 
remembered that there was no chance for her to be disillusion- 
ized in practice. She felt that children should be instructed, 
not entertained by games of " Bo-peep," " Blind-man-buff," or 
" Cocks-hod," in which they " hide themselves behind Hangings, 
and old Cupboards, or dirty Holes, or the like places, where 
they foul their Clothes, disaffect the Brain with stincks, and 
are almost choak't with Dirt, and dusty Cobwebs, and Spiders, 
Flyes, and the like."^ Youth and age receive some atten- 
tion, as well as husbands and wives. The authoress thinks 
that marriages of interest are likely to be more happy than 
those of fancy, a statement which is not without personal sig- 
nificance. She supposes indifferent handsome women make 
the best wives but permits them to paint their faces for at- 
tracting men, except widows, who ought not to marry again. 
Certain cosmetics, however, are dangerous, disfiguring, or 
1 Pp. 123-126. "^ P. 125. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 201 

sluttish, " especially in the Preparatives, as Masks of Sear- 
clothes, which are not only horrid to look upon, in that they 
seem as Dead Bodies embalmed, but the stink is offensive , , . 
Oily Drops can be no grace to their Face. Dry Painting 
shrivels up the skin so, that it imprints Age in their Face." ^ 
Part I of Book II is made up of fifty-eight Allegories, such 
as Number 9 : ^ 

The World is a Shop, which sells all manner of Commodities to the 
Soul and Senses : The Price are Good Actions and Bad, for which 
they have Salvation or Damnation, Peace or Warr, Pleasure or Pain, 
Delight or Grief. 

Number 28 states that "Thoughts are like Pan-cakes, and the 
Brain is the Pan, wherein they are tossed and turned by the 
several Objects, as by several Hands." ^ Part II consists of 
"Short Essays," the first hundred and five of which live up 
to their designation. Number 99, for instance, reads : ^ 

Our natural English Tongue was significant enough without the help 
of other Languages ; but as we have Merchandized for Wares, so 
have we done for Words ; of which there is more brought in, than 
carried out. 

Numbers 107-122 are sufficiently long to have particular titles, 
but their worth is not commensurate with their bulk. Part III 
occupies itself with describing famous characters in English or 
classical history. Queen Elizabeth is said to have " clothed 
herself in a Sheeps-Skin ; yet she had a Lions Paw, and a 
Fox's Head ; she stroked the Cheeks of her Subjects with 
Flattery, while she pickt their Purses ; and though she seemed 
loath, yet she never failed to crush to death those that dis- 
turbed her way." ^ That is keen enough writing after its 
kind, but many such fragments do not constitute a work of 
art. The Olio, in addition to its authoress's usual faults, 
is marred by immaturity and experimentation. 

1 p. 178. 2 p. ig6. 8 p. 207. 4 p. 234. 5 p. 248. 



202 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Book III, Part I, treats of men and beasts, their passions 
and appetites. Love, envy, fear, and hate are severally 
taken up, while afterwards courage is differentiated from 
valour : the former follows appetite, the latter depends upon 
"consideration." Part II contains a rough draft of the 
Duchess's system in so far as it affects the elements. Part III 
opens with her customary review of diseases and their reme- 
dies, mentions royal favorites, and then comes to " The Inven- 
tory of Judgment's Commonwealth ; which the Author cares 
not in what World it is Established." Good Hobbesian prin- 
ciples underlie this government, since it depends upon a con- 
tract existing between king and people. Striking details are 
that the monarch shall have a library rather than a collection 
of knickknacks,! and that there shall be set times for popular 
recreations. Also, "If a Gentleman must or will have a 
Whore, let him have one of his own, and not feed upon 
Reversions " ;^ " No Husband nor Wife, although but a day 
married, shall kiss each other in publick, lest it turn the 
Spectators from a lawful wholsome Appetite of Marriage, to a 
Gluttonous Adultery ; or weaken the Appetite so much, as to 
cause a loathing or an aversion to the Wedlock-Bed" ;^ and 
Dancing is " commendable as a graceful Art in Maids or 
Batchelors ; but shall be accounted an Effeminacy for Married 
Men, a May-game for Old Men, and a Wanton-lightness for 
Married Women." ^ Two short, irrelevant sections are in- 
serted, " Of Noble Souls and Strong Bodies " and "' Of those 
that steal from Books," after which the Duchess concludes^ 

1 p. 402. 2 p 4o5_ 8 p. 409. * P. 410. 

^ The lines 

Of all my Works, this Work which I have writ, 
My best Belov'd, and greatest Favourite, etc. 

follow, but in " To the Reader," prefixed to Philosophical and Physical Opin- 
ions, 1655, she says they were intended for that book. There too she notices 
this erroneous intrusion of " a character of the strength of the soul and body." 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 203 

by breaking into verse anent her ideal ruler : ^ 

But I would have this Monarchy I make, 

To have a Judg * that will good Counsel take : 

One that is wise to govern and to see 

What faults to mend, and what the Errors bee : 

Making the Commonwealth his only Minion, 

And striving to enlarge his own Dominion. 

* I call the Chief Ruler Judg as they did in the old time. 

The World's Olio was reprinted in 1671,2 and the same 
year appeared a second edition of Natures Picture Drawn by 
Fancies Pencil to the Life. Being several Feigned Stories, 
Comical, Tragical, Tragi- comical, Poetical, Romancical^ Philo- 
sophical, Historical, and Moral: Some in Verse, some in Prose ; 
some Mixt, and some by Dialogues. The first edition of 1656 
{some copies dated 1655)* also contained A Tme Relation of 
my Birth, Breeding and Life, while its title had the plural 
form, Nature's Pictures, etc. In 1671 it is preceded by an 
enniched portrait of the authoress^ and by some laudatory 
lines from her husband. " The Preface," after announcing 

1 p. 420. 

2 It is this edition to which the references above are made. 

8 Charles Lamb using this word of certain writers adds in parenthesis " as 
dear Margaret Newcastle would call them." See " A Complaint of the Decay 
of Beggars in the Metropolis," j&^ayj of Elia, p. 194. Indeed, the redundancy 
of this formation is typical of the Duchess's style. 

* The article on Margaret Cavendish, first Duchess of Newcastle, in Diet. 
Nat. Biog. 

^ Under it are these lines : 

Here on this Figure Cast a Glance, 

But so as if it were by Chance, 

Your eyes not fixt, they must not stay, 

Since this like Shadowes to the Day 

It only represents ; for Still, 

Her Beuty's found beyond the Skill 

Of the best Paynter, to Imbrace 

Those lovely Lines, within her face. 

View her Soul's Picture, Judgment, witt. 

Then read those Lines which She hath writt, 

By Phancy's Picture drawne alone 

Which Peece but Shee, Can justly owne. 



204 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

this book's moral purpose, tells under what circumstances it 
was composed : 

As I was writing, by a little fire, 

These Feigned Histories ; I did desire 

To see my Native Country, Native Friends, 

That lov'd me well, and had no other ends 

Than harmless mirth to pass away dull time, 

With telling Tales either in Prose or Rime. 

But though Desire did then like a Wind blow 

The Sails of Wishes on Love's ship to go ; 

Yet Banishment to my dear Lord, was then 

A dangerous Rock, made of hard-hearted men. 

And hearing of such dangers in my way, 

I was content in Antwerp for to stay ; 

And in the circle of my Brain to raise 

The Figures of my Friends crowned with Praise. 

This was found to be such a successful method of procedure 
that the Duchess invited scholars and poets also, whom she 
entertained with the stories that follow. 

Those in Book I are told in verse and are connected by a 
scheme roughly analogous to that of the Decameron or The 
Canterbury Tales. 

In vdnter cold, a Company was met, 
Both Men and Women by the Fire were set ; 
At last they did agree (to pass the time) 
That every one should tell a Tale in Rhyme. 

Most of their narrations deal with love, like the account of a 
mournful widow, an easily consoled widower, an inconstant 
woman, and a lover that deserts his pock-marked mistress. 
"A Description of Constancy" recounts how two parted lovers 
think each other dead, whereupon the man becomes a hermit. 
The woman sings dirges over his supposed grave,^ until they 

1 In the British Museum copy there is an entry in the Duchess's hand- 
writing, " These songs my Lord writ." See Everyman edition of the Life^ 
p. XX. Rhys thinks the third of them the Duke's highest mark in verse. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 205 

are united by a benevolent queen. One of the company doubts 
that such steadfastness often exists and tries to prove his 
point by a similar tale with a tragic ending. Humanity, De- 
spair, and Jealousy are personified by another man, while a 
merry lass tells of a husband's courting his wife's maid. One 
moralizer states that students rarely can talk well ; the next 
romance is of a brave stranger's freeing and marrying a captive 
lady. A bachelor expatiates on feminine amorousness, which 
in old age becomes spite : 

And if a Lady dress, or chance to wear 

A Gown to please her self, or curl her Hair, 

If not according as the Fashion runs, 

Lord, how it sets a-work their Eyes and Tongues ! 

Straight she's fantastical, they all do cry. 

Yet they will imitate her presently ; 

And for what they did laugh at her in scorn, 

With it think good themselves for to adorn. 

A tragic account of two young lovers who do not wait for the 
marriage ceremony intervenes, followed by another philosophical 
speech in praise of temperance. Then comes an argument 
over the advantages and disadvantages of wedlock, the various 
points being enforced by precept or example. A soldier tells 
of how a princess falls in love with her father's slayer. " The 
Surprisal of Death " relates the sudden end of a lovely 
young girl. 

To these rhymed stories Newcastle likewise contributed two 
" mock-tales" and a poem called "The Philosopher's Complaint." 
The first was of an old woman's marriage to a serving-man, 
the second about an inconstant husband who is deserted by 
both his wives. The philosopher laments in uninspired stanzas 
that men have so many more responsibilities than beasts. 
Other narratives are concerned with human doubts, foolish 
pride, and ill-advised love. One man compares castles in the 



206 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

air to the homes of spiders or silkworms, which he describes 
with particular detail. " The Tale of the Four Seasons of the 
Year " ^ contains as successful poetry as the Duchess achieves 
in this volume : ^ 

The Spring is dress'd in buds & blossoms sweet, 
And Grass-green Socks she draws upon her feet, 
Of freshest air a Garment she cuts out, 
With painted Tulips fringed round about, 
And Unes it all within with Violets blew, 
And yellow Primrose of the palest hew : 
Then wears an Apron made of Lillies white, 
And lac'd about it is with Rays of Light. 

Finally comes "A Description of Civil Warrs," in which a lady, 
evidently Margaret Cavendish herself, laments that, 

My Brother then was murther'd in cold-blood, 
Incircled round with Enemies he stood ; 

VoUies of Shot did all his Body tear ; 

Where his blood 's spilt, the Earth no Grace will bear, 

As if, for to revenge his Death, the Earth 

Was curs'd with barrenness ev'n from her birth.^ 

The Second Part of Natures Picture drops from poetry to 
prose and gives up the unified setting of Part I. These 
changes permit even freer rein to the Duchess's fancy, which 
flies off in every possible direction. Men and women, France 
and England, tobacco, schools, the court, one and all are 
reviewed under the name of story-telling. " The Vulgar 

^ Rhys calls it " a piece of tapestry in verse which is rare and fine." — 
Everyman edition of the Life, p. xxi. 

2P. lOI. 

3 Cf. Evelyn, II, 85, when on July 8, 1656, he visited Colchester: "But 
what was shewed us as a kind of miracle at the outside of the Castle, the wall 
where Sir Cha. Lucas and Sir Geo. Lisle, those valiant and noble persons who 
so bravely behav'd themselves in the last siege, were barbarously shot. . . . 
The place was bare of grass for a large space, all y^ rest of it abounding 
with herbage." 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 207 

Fights," 1 contrasting unrest at home and in the street, comes 
as near to real Hfe as any of these short paragraphs. Marriage 
of course figures largely, with neglect, unfaithfulness, ambition, 
or greed as its necessary concomitants. Metaphysical subjects 
treated are " Love's Cure,"^ "The Propagating Souls "^ (their off- 
shoots are meteors), " The Marriage of Life and Death," ^ and 
"Of the Indisposition of the Mind."^ In one of these fantasies 
the hero arrives at the center of the earth, where " he saw a 
light like Moonshine ; of which, when he came near, he saw 
that the first Circle about the Center, was Glow-worms Tails, 
which gave that Light ; and in the Center was an old man, 
who did neither stand nor sit, for there was no thing to stand 
or sit on ; but he hung (as it were) in the Air ; nor ever stirr'd 
out of his place ; and had been there ever since the World 
was made ; for he, having never had a Woman to tempt him to 
sin, never dyed." ^ "The Speculators "''' takes its title from three 
glasses which show wonderful happenings in the firmament ; a 
lady preacher comments on the text, " In the Land of Poetry 
there stands a steep high Mount Named Parnasus. At the top 
issues out a flame which ascends unto Fames Mansion." ^ 
There are three " moral tales " of an ant and a bee, in which 
the bee generally comes out victorious, since it has a monar- 
chical rather than a republican government. Other improving 
dialogues are held between a woodcock and a cow on the 
subject of wings, between a butcher and a fly, a man and a 
spider, or between a lady and several interlocutors. 

The first long story in this book is "The Contract,"^ and 
here the Duchess enters upon the domain of the novel. Her 
imagination has worked up a simple anecdote into sixty pages 

1 Pp. 157-164. ®P-253. 

2 Pp. 217-223. ^ Pp. 259-267. 
8 Pp. 223-226. * Pp. 275-280. 
* Pp. 231-234. 9 Pp. 321-389. 

6 Pp. 234-236. 



2o8 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

of sustained interest, and that without tradition or precedent. 
"The Contract" is indisputably a romance, but in the late seven- 
teenth century extended prose romances were uncommon in 
English letters. A tale like this could have exerted little 
influence upon future novelists, but it demands notice amidst 
the ferment which preceded the birth of a new form of art. 
Its plot revolves around a Duke who breaks the betrothal con- 
tract agreed to on his father's deathbed. He marries another 
lady and thereafter meets his first fiancee, only to fall deeply in 
love with her ; at last all obstacles are removed, so that the 
happy pair may be united. This bare outline conveys no idea 
of how vividly the story is told, since its characters are more 
than the puppets customary in Margaret Newcastle's composi- 
tions. For instance, the Duke's servant is a charming person, 
and a parting of the lovers has genuine delicacy in feeling 
and phrase : ^ 

Heaven direct you for the best, said she, it is late. Good night. 

You will give me leave, said he, to kiss your hand ? 

I cannot deny my Hand, said she, to him that hath my heart. 

The climax occurs in an interview in which the Duke forces 
his rival, the pusillanimous Viceroy, to abandon all claims upon 
the lady. Their quick, staccato utterance makes this scene 
dramatically alive from the Viceroy's first line, 

And what is your Demand ? 

My Demand, that you will never mary her. 

How, says the Vice- Roy? Put the case you should die, you will 
then give me leave to marrie her ? 

No, said the Duke ; I love her too well, to leave a possibility of 
her marrying you. 

I will sooner die, than set my hand to this, said the Vice-Roy. 

If you do not, you shall die a violent death, by Heaven, answered 
he; and more than that, you shall set your hand never to complain 
against me to the King : Will you do it 1 or will you not ? for I am 
desperate said the Duke. 

ip.367. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 209 

The Vice-Roy said, You strike the King in striking me. 

No disputing, says he ; set your hand presently, or I will kill you. 

Do you say. You are desperate ? 

Yes, answered he. 

Then I must do a desperate Act, to set my hand to a Bond I 
mean to break. 

Use your own discretion, to that. 

Come, said he, I will set my hand before I read it; for whatso- 
ever it is, it must be done.-*^ 

Nor is the dialogue alone to be commended, for the heroine's 
old uncle " was so pleased to see his Neece admired, that as 
he went home, he did nothing but sing after a humming way ; 
and was so frolick, as if he were returned to twenty years of 
age." 2 

" The Contract," marks the highest point in Natures Picture, 
for those stories which follow it are of much less value. 
" The Ambitious Traitor " ^ briefly narrates an evil coun- 
sellor's fall and execution. "Assaulted and Pursued Chastity," ^ 
on the other hand, is a long-drawn out account of undeserved 
persecutions. The heroine, variously named Miseriae, Travelia, 
or Affectionata, endures the attentions of a certain married 
prince in the kingdoms of Sensuality, Fancy, and Amity. The 
second of these realms offers most opportunity to the Duchess's 
imagination, so that it receives detailed consideration. Its in- 
habitants were " of a deep Purple, their Hair as white as Milk, 
and like Wool ; their Lips thin, their Ears long, their Noses 
flat, yet sharp ; their Teeth and Nails as black as Jet, and as 
shining ; their Stature tall, and their Proportion big," ^ all 
except the royal family, who differed by being " of a perfect 
Orange-colour, their Hair coal-black, their Teeth and Nails as 
white as Milk ; of a very great height but well shaped." ^ 

1 Pp. 368-369. 8 Pp. 389-394. 5 p. 42 1 . 

2 P. 347. * Pp. 394-5 1 4. 

® p. 429. Cf. The Blazing World, where there are complexions of azure, 
purple, scarlet, and other bright colors. 



2IO THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Fish are closely associated with these people, for they sacrifice 
fishes, their houses are built of fishbones and thatched with 
fish scales, and one of their common beasts was " half Fish, 
half Flesh." Our heroine arrives in this strange land, dis- 
guised as a boy and accompanied by an old sailor. She learns 
to talk like the inhabitants, and that accomplishment, together 
with certain pistols which her friend is able to make, persuades 
the native population that these strangers are divine messengers. 
They do not use their new power for personal aggrandizement,^ 
but to reform the cannibalism and sexual promiscuousness ram- 
pant throughout this kingdom. Travelia's teaching was that 
"' The Gods were not to be known nor comprehended ; and 
that all they have discovered of themselves to their Creatures, 
was only by their Works, in which they should praise them." 
"By which Doctrine," the Duchess adds, "they were brought 
to be a civilized people." ^ Then our travellers make good their 
escape to the Queen of Amity, who falls in love with Travelia 
disguised but accepts the King of Amours on discovering her 
inamorata's sex. Meanwhile Travelia has conquered Amours's 
forces under command of her insistent pursuer, and his wife's 
accommodating decease clears the way for these lovers to be 
united. So after a hundred and twenty pages the Duchess, 
feeling that she has clearly proved her point, i.e. that young 
girls ought not to travel about unprotected, brings her story to 
a haphazard close, which might have resolved all difificulties at 
any previous point in the chronicle. 

"The Tale of a Traveller" begins with a certain young 
man's birth and education : ^ 

After he came to ten years old, or thereabouts, he was sent to a Free- 
School, where the noise of each Scholar's reading aloud, did drown the 
sense of what they read, burying the Knowledge and Understanding 

1 Mr. Kipling has developed such a situation in The Man Who Would 
Be King. "^Y.^^z. ® P- S'S- 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 211 

in the confusion of many Words, and several Languages, yet were 
whipt (for not learning) by their Tutors, whose ill teaching broke and 
weakned their Memories with overheavy burthens . . . being afraid 
of whipping, they got their Lessons by rote, without understanding 
the sense. 

Later he travels for some years, attends at court, but finally 
settles down in the country, where his expenses become greater 
than his receipts. A poor woman, whom he benefits one day, 
warns him to be temperate in all things, and he decides to 
follow her advice. As a result, he marries a moderately rich 
and moderately handsome wife, settles down to a moderate 
scale of existence, and lives happily ever after. This sketch 
so well embodies the Duchess's view of an ideal life that it is 
no wonder she recommends ^ it particularly to the reader, along 
with "The She Anchoret," which follows next in Natures Picture. 
Probably, too, this recommendation caused these pieces to be 
reprinted in 1766 as an appendage to Alexander Nicol's 
Poems on Several Subjects. Taken together they are entitled 
A Treasure of Knowledge ; or The Female Oracle. Wherein 
is delineated The Experienced Traveller ; likezvise the She 
Anchoret ; in which tnany curious Qiiestiofis are resolved, 
put by Natural Philosophers, Physiciatts, Moral Philosophers, 
Theological Students, Preachers, Judges, Tradesmen, Masters 
of Families, Married Men and their Wives, Nurses, Widowers, 
and Widows, Virgins, Lovers, Poets and Aged Persons. 

The list should also include orators, statesmen, soldiers, 
and historians, for all these classes come to consult the " She 
Anchoret," after her father's death has caused her to retire from 
the world in single blessedness. To each she replies with some 
fullness, so that this document alone gives the reader a very 
good idea of Margaret Cavendish's intellectual processes — 
they are those that we have seen repeated over and over again 

1 " The Preface." 



212 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

in divers forms under divers circumstances. The Duke con- 
tributes to natural philosophers his explanation of why cats see 
in the dark, a phenomenon which he takes to be caused by the 
sea-water-green matter about their eyes, that being the same color 
one finds in rotten wood and glowworms' tails. "' The times," 
Newcastle explains,^ "' give me leave to study the nature of all 
things from the Mouse to the Elephant." The Anchoret tells 
theologians that every religious opinion "judges all damned 
but their own : and most opinions are. That the smallest Fault 
is able to damn, but the most Vertuous Life, and innocent 
Thoughts, not sufficient to save them,"^ a dictum of profound 
if practical wisdom, quite in accord with seventeenth-century 
latitudinarianism. Wives are told that to retain their husbands' 
affections they " must act the Arts of a Courtizan to him, which 
is very lawful, since it is to an honest End ; for the Arts are 
honest and lawful, but the Design and End is wicked." ^ 
Many specific instructions are given for bringing up children, 
the drawbacks to common and free schools are set forth, and 
nurses come in for a large share of criticism. When children 
cry, " Nurses most commonly take their Tears to be shed out 
of a froward passion, rather than a mournful complaining, or 
a craving redress ; which makes them only to sing, or prate, 
or whistle, or rattle to them, to please them ; but not to search 
about them, or observe them, to find out their Malady to ease 
them ; but rather, by the dancing and rocking them, they put 
them to more pain." ^ And further on,^ " Nurses feed Children 
as if they had Ostritch's Stomacks, which is able to digest 
Iron." The Duchess's love of didactic writing has here led 
her far from such a narrative style as she was developing in 
" The Contract." She refused to be confined within artistic 
limits and consequently broke down the necessary restraints of 

1 P. 570. 8 p. 665. 6 p. 669. 

2 p. 614. 4 p. 666. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 213 

story-telling, until "The She Anchoret" has become one more 
conglomeration of assorted ideas, unified only by its creator's 
imagination.^ An extreme antithesis to everything which has 
gone before closes Natures Picture, for the chaos of the 
volume is made complete by a critical review of noted men, 
labelled " Heaven's Library, which is Fame's Palace, purged 
from Errors and Vices." ^ 

III 

PLAYS AND ORATIONS (1662-1668) 

It would have been surprising if in her extended use of 
literary forms the Duchess had neglected the drama. After 
the Restoration, plays were more than ever a fashionable diver- 
sion. Newcastle had tried his hand at them, and his wife 
naturally followed suit. From the amount of work she pro- 
duced in this genre, it seems clear that her genius felt itself 
eminently at home in such writing, and, indeed, as she under- 
stood the art, her fancy had limitless scope there. For the 
setting of the Duchess's plays was her own brain, where per- 
sonified abstractions could argue or debate as long as pen and 
paper gave them leave. Any suggestion of dramatic technique 
is completely lacking, for that would at once imply repression 
and " I love ease so well as I hate constraint even in my 
works." ^ Her theory was not altogether wrong when she 
rebelled against the unity of time and the tradition of closing 
fifth acts with a full stage, for in these respects posterity has 

1 " You will find my Works like Infinite Nature," she herself writes, " that 
hath neither Beginning nor End, and as confused as the Chaos wherein is 
neither Method nor Order, but all Mix'd together, without Separation, like 
Evening Light and Darkness." — Sociable Letter CXXXI, although here she 
is referring to her early experimentations in philosophical writing. 

2 Pp. 706-718. 

* Playes, 1662, " To the Readers " (No. 3). 



214 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

sustained her ; but in asserting that the characters need not all 
be kinsfolk and acquaintance, she denied even the most primi- 
tive artistic unity. As to the more subtle laws of play-writing, 
the Duchess was entirely innocent, for no dramatic sense had 
been granted to her by Providence. It is not remarkable, then, 
that her plays were never accorded a single performance, 
although she intended them for actual representation and ex- 
plained that if they had not been given, it was merely because 
of their length and the closing of theatres in England.^ Two 
reasons always look like an excuse, and so it was to prove in 
this case. Time went on and conditions changed, but still 
the Duchess's plays remained unacted and unactable. They 
are closet drama indeed — but closet drama so lifeless and so 
dull that one shrinks from it even on the printed page. They 
mark the lowest ebb of their authoress's literary production. 

Her first volume of Playcs was printed in 1662 and con- 
tains fourteen dramas, seven of them in two parts, making 
a total of twenty-one pieces. There are ten epistles, " To the 
Readers, " prefixed, a "General Prologue," and "An Introduc- 
tion," of which the " Prologue " in verse is chiefly interesting. 
For one thing, it asserts that she wrote all her plays in a 
comparatively short time : 

This shews my Playes have not such store of wit 
Not subtil plots, they were so quickly writ 
So quickly writ that I did almost cry 
For want of work, my time for to imploy : 
Some time for want of work, I'm forced to play, 
And idlely to cast my time away : 

And again, asserting her originality of plot, which no reader 
of the plays would think of denying : ^ 

1 Playes, 1662, "To the Readers" (No. 2). 

2 Langbaine, p. 391, thinks that for this reason, "she ought with Justice 
to be preferr'd to others of her Sex, which have built their Fame on other 
People's Foundations." 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 215 

But, Noble Readers, do not think my Playes 

Are such as have been writ in former daies ; 

As Johnson, Shakespear, Beaumont, Fletcher writ 

Mine want their Learning, Reading, Language, Wit : 

The Latin phrases, I could never tell 

But Johnson could, which made him write so well 

Greek, Latin Poets I could never read 

Nor their Historians, but our EngUsh Speed ; 

I could not steal their Wit, nor Plots out take 

All my Playes Plots, my own poor brain did make. 

From Plutarchs story I ne'er took a Plot, 

Nor from Romances, nor from Don Quixot, 

As others have, for to assist their Wit, 

But I upon my own Foundation writ. 

The only play in her book which was not entirely novel 
is that called The Apocriphal Ladies} According to its " Epi- 
logue " the basis is a tale in English history, and this may be 
identified as Geoffrey of Monmouth's legendary account of 
Locrine, made familiar by Milton in Comus. The story, in 
brief, is that King Locrine, the oldest son of Brut, becomes 
enamored of Estrildis, a German captive, but is forced by 
Corineus, Duke of Cornwall, to marry his daughter Gwendolen, 
to whom the King was previously betrothed. Estrildis is kept 
in an underground chamber for seven years, until Corineus dies, 
when Locrine deserts Gwendolen to marry his love. Gwendolen 
retires to Cornwall, collects an army, and kills Locrine in bat- 
tle, while Estrildis and her daughter Sabrina are flung into 
a river, thereafter known from this occurrence as the Severn. 
Such a narrative made crude but dramatic material in the hands 
of an Elizabethan author, but the Duchess's interest in the 
story became much more sophisticated. Her mind was occu- 
pied with the question of Gwendolen's claim to the throne after 
Locrine's marriage to Estrildis ; and in order to make this 
problem more difficult she supposes that Gwendolen was the 

ip.635. 



2i6 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

rightful heir and Locrine king only by virtue of being his 
wife's husband. Then she lowers the rank of the characters, 
renames them "The Duke of Inconstancy," "The Unfortunate 
Duchess," " The Comical Duchess," and lo ! here is subject 
matter for a play. 

Thus we have two " apocriphal ladies " to start with : the 
rightful duchess, now deposed by the ducal power of her hus- 
band, and his second wife, who has no real claim to the posi- 
tion. To these are added "The Creating Princess," determined 
to elevate a husband to her own rank, and " The Imaginary 
Queen," royal by right of her fancy. There is no action in 
the play except the Duke's leaving his second wife and her 
subsequent continuation of a Duchess's state, and even this is 
narrated not acted .^ One scene is taken up by a discussion 
between three gentlemen on the subject of heraldry ; ^ in an- 
other. Lady True Honour tells Madam Inquirer about the 
importance of rank.^ The height of irrelevancy seems to be 
reached in the description of Earl Undone's marriage to Mis- 
triss Tip-tape, an alewife, and her elevation to share his title. 
Yet the connection of all this outlying material becomes plain, 
when we realize that our authoress was not telling a story but 
dramatizing the abstract conception of Rank. Her thesis is, 
" I perceive Great Noble Persons may do what they will," * 
and that proves to be the conclusion of the whole matter ; but 
instead of establishing her point by one carefully selected 
instance, she multiplies disconnected fancies, until the complex 
web of imagination obscures her original plan. It is only neces- 
sary to contrast the Elizabethan Locrine with T/ie Apocriphal 
Ladies to see the difference between a play and an argumen- 
tative treatise, a comparison the Duchess invites by boldly ad- 
mitting her historical sources. No better evidence could be 
found of how utterly undramatic was her work and how little 

1 Scenes xxi and xxiii. ^ Scene xiv. ^ Scene xx. * Scene xxii. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 217 

she realized the fact. This latter consideration may mitigate 
one's personal irritation towards the lady, though it cannot 
soften a righteous critical severity. 

To treat the remaining twenty plays in detail would be as 
discouraging as useless — they do not demand or deserve a 
minute analysis. Let it suffice to enumerate them and to notice, 
in passing, their general outline or most significant character- 
istics. The first, Loves Adventures, in two parts, tells that the 
Lady Orphant serves Lord Singularity in the guise of a page, 
Affectionata, and so gains his love ; that Lady Bashful is 
wooed by Sir Humphry Bold, but won by Sir Serious Dumbe ; 
and that Sir Peaceable Studious drives his wife from her 
worldliness by himself plunging into the society of fair ladies. 
These stories give rise to numerous incidental discussions, 
among them the description of a wise husband,^ the satire 
upon Puritan preachers,^ and a complaint that there is such a 
majority of evil in the world. ^ This last point is typical of the 
Duchess's cast of thought, which more than once betrays a 
distinct tendency towards pessimism, quite in keeping with 
those troublous times and her own unfortunate experiences. It 
is only natural for the exiled and impoverished noblewoman 
to write : ^ 

The general manner of the whole World is to offer more than 
present, to promise more than perform, to be more faigning than 
real, more courtly than friendly, more treacherous than trusty, more 
covetous than generous and yet more prodigal than covetous. 

Newcastle frequently contributed to his wife's plays, and at the 
end of Love's Adventures he has a poem summarizing the 
action, which begins, 

Love in thy younger age 

Thou then turn'd page. 

1 Part I, scene xiv. ^ Part II, scene xi. ^ Part II, scene xxxiii. 

* The plays were written while she was still abroad, although not published 
until 1662. See " To the Reader," at the end of the book. 



21 8 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

The Duchess is always scrupulously careful about rendering 
due credit to her husband for his assistance in composition, so 
that again and again in her plays we come across the legend 
"' This Scene was written by my Lord Marquess of Newcastle" 
or "These Verses the Lord Marquess writ." 

The Comedy named The Several Wits. The wise Wit, the 
wild Wit, the cholerick Wit, the humble Wit, is sufficiently 
described by its title. One of the female characters, Mada- 
mosel Solid, is the first of those contemplative ladies that are 
scattered in such profusion throughout the plays and who are 
only so many variations of the authoress herself. Lady San- 
parelle in the two parts of Youths Glory and Deaths Banquet 
is a similar person, and to her is given also the gift of oratory. 
She gets her father's permission for public speaking, and 
lectures to a select audience upon nature,^ upon love and 
hate,2 upon men's professions,^ and finally upon matrimony.'* 
Strangely enough she upholds celibacy and remains true to 
her creed, as do others of the Duchess's ideal characters. 
Evidently their creator, although a notable exponent of happy 
married life, did not theoretically believe in the institution of 
wedlock. Youths Glory and Deaths Banquet is, as the name 
implies, a tragedy, for not only does Lady Sanparelle meet 
her death, but the Lady Innocence commits suicide because 
the Lord de L' Amour has forsaken her. He learns too late 
that Lady Incontinent has basely slandered Innocence and, to 
expiate the crime, takes his own life. 

The Lady Contemplation, in two parts, is largely concerned 
with the Lady Virtue's disguise as a farmer's daughter and her 
encounter with Sir Effeminate Lovely, Sir Golden Riches, and 
Lord Title, who finally marries her. The same noblemen 
accost the real country girl, Mall Mean-bred, in comic scenes 

1 Part I, scene ix. ^ Part I, scene xv. 

^ Part I, scene xi. * Part II, scene v. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 219 

written for the most part by Newcastle. This play also 
deals with Lady Ward's success in winning her husband, 
Lord Courtship, from his mistress, the Lady Amorous. The 
Lady Contemplation, who gives her name to the piece, is 
another imaginative character, but she is finally persuaded to 
leave her solitary life and become the bride of Sir Fancy Poet. 
One episode in this drama is so vivid as to suggest that the 
Duchess may be describing an actual incident, of which she 
was the heroine during her early days at court. The Lady 
Ward can see no difference between the word " baud " and 
the more elegant " confident " and is severely reprimanded 
by Nurse Careful for such ingenuousness : ^ 

O peace Child for if any body heard you say so, they would laugh at 
you for a Fool, but 't is a sign you never was a Courtier, for I knew 
a young Lady that went to Court to be a Maid of Honour ; and there 
were two young Ladies that were Confidents to each other, and a great 
Prince made love to one of them, but addresst himself to the other, 
as being her Friend ; this young Maid askt why he did so, it was 
answered, she was the Princes Mistresse Confident ; and just as you 
ask me, what said she, is a confident a Baud ; whereupon the whole 
Court laught at her and for that only question condemned her to be 
a very fool, nay a meer Changling. 

The Wits Cabal takes its name from a company of men 
and women who spend most of their time in polite conver- 
sation or extemporaneous rhyming. This is a device frequently 
employed by the Duchess, for it reduces the plot of her play 
to a minimum and at the same time gives her fancy boundless 
scope. The only individual strands which may be disentangled 
from ten acts of talk are old Mother Matron's amusing capture 
of Monsieur Frisk and the union of Madamoiselle Bon Esprit 
with Monsieur Satyrical, despite the latter's dislike of women 
and the former's intention to make him ridiculous. Interesting 
details are : Monsieur Sensuality's arguments for polygamy,^ 
1 Part I, scene xix. ^ Part I, scene v. 



220 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

a masque of the Five Senses,^ and the cabal's " dialogue- 
discourses " in prose and verse.^ One of them pointedly 
asserts that " Widowers love their second wives better than 
the first . . , but women, 'tis said, love their first husbands 
better than the second." ^ In another, Chaucer is praised as 
an example of how unimportant is literary form, for " certainly 
Chancers Witty Poems and Lively Descriptions, in despite of 
their Old Language, as they have lasted in great Esteem and 
Admiration these three hundred years, so they may do Eter- 
nally amongst the Wise in every Age." ^ The Unnatural 
Tragedie relates a story of incest in the same calm philo- 
sophical manner which distinguishes all the Duchess's plays, 
and which in this instance contrasts most forcibly with her 
passionate subject. After Monsieur Frere has forced his sis- 
ter, he kills both her and himself, thus indirectly causing the 
death of her husband, his own intended bride, and Monsieur 
Pere. The underplot deals with Monsieur Malateste, his good 
first wife, and the shrew he afterwards marries. The weaker 
partner fares ill each time, for the " survival of the fittest " 
doctrine is twice carried out to its logical conclusion. The 
Sociable Virgins frequently interrupt the action by their 
abstract utterances, once harping again upon the Duchess's 
favorite string with a demand that women should have more 
experience and education.^ 

Again they discuss historians and have something to say of 
Camden, famous as Ben Jonson's master and as author of 
the Britannia : ^ 

1 Part I, scenes xxi, xxiv, and xxvi. 

2 Part I, scene xxxvii, and Part II, scenes ix and xxii. 

* Part I, scene xxv. 

* Part I, scene xxxvii. This was the standard seventeenth-century opinion, 
given classical expression in Dryden's Preface to the Fables. 

5 Scene x. The Duchess herself rebutted their argument in her Preface 
to The World's Olio. 
^ Scene xiii. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 221 

Let me tell you that Chronologers do not only new dress truth but 
they falsifie her, as may be seen in our late chronologers, such writers 
as Camden and the like ... As for particular Families some Camden 
hath mistaken and some of Antient Descent he hath not mention'd 
and some he hath falsely mention'd to their prejudice and some so 
slightly, as with an undervaluing, as if they were not worth the men- 
tion, which is far worse than if he should rail or disclame against them : 
But I suppose he hath done as I have heard a Tale of one of his like 
Profession, which was a Schoolmaster as Camden was, which went to 
whip one of his Scholars, and the boy to save himself, promised his 
Master that if he would give him his pardon, that his Mother should 
give him a fat pig ; whereupon the fury of the Pedant was not only 
pacify'd, but the boy was strok'd and made much of. . . . I have ob- 
serv'd one Errour in his Writing that is, when he mentions such Places 
and Houses, he says the ancient situation of such a worthy Family, 
when to my knowledge, many of those Families he mentions bought 
those Houses and Lands, some one Descent, some two Descents, 
some three before, which Families came out of other parts of the 
Kingdom, or the City, and not to the Antient and Inheritary Families ; 
but he leaves those Antient Families unmention'd ... he might take 
some pett at those that did not entertain him at their Houses when 
he went his Progress about the Kingdome to inform him of the several 
parts of the Country before he writ of the same. 

One would expect from this to find the Newcastles slighted 
in Britannia, but the case proves to be quite otherwise, ^ for 
the Ogles are duly mentioned ^ and the Cavendishes receive 
their meed of attention.^ Now Camden's book had earlier 
been subjected to severe criticism by one Ralphe Brooke, who 
in 1 599 brought out A Discoverie of Certaifie Erronrs, pub- 
lished in Print in the much commeftded Britannia, 1594-^ 

1 Is it conceivable that the Duchess could have imagined that the Lucases 
deserved a place in this aristocratic work ? 

2 Britannia, 1637 ed., p. 812. 

8 Britatmia, pp. 555-556. It is true that the Newcastle branch is not specifi- 
cally noticed, but it had achieved no eminence by 1623, the year of Camden's 
death. In his Annales, 1625 ed., p. 572, Camden mentions Elizabeth Talbot's 
ill conduct, and as she really founded the family of Cavendish, this may have 
been a possible cause for complaint. 

* Title-page. 



222 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

The minor facts are of small importance for our purpose, 
which is merely to show that the Duchess's strictures were not 
the first of their kind. Indeed it almost seems as if Camden 
were anticipating The Unnatural Tragedie, when he wrote : ^ 

There are some peradventure which apprehend it disdainfully and 
offensively that I have not remembered this or that family when as it 
was not my purpose to mention any but such as were more notable, 
nor all of them truely (for their names would fill whole volumes) but 
such as hapned in my way according to the method I proposed to 
my selfe. 

The Piiblick Wooing takes its name from a plan devised by 
Lady Prudence as a safeguard in marrying, that everything 
may be open and aboveboard. She refuses a soldier, a country 
gentleman, a courtier, a bashful suitor, an amorous one, a 
divine, a lawyer, a citizen, and a farmer. The man of her 
choice is a stranger, "a man that had a wooden Leg, a patch 
on his Eye, and crook-back'd, unhandsome, snarled Hair and 
plain poor Cloaths on,"^ who, of course, ultimately turns out 
to be a prince in disguise. Sir Thomas Letgo, being in finan- 
cial straits, wagers his affianced mistress against ;!^ 15,000, 
and, when he loses, contents himself with the Lady Liberty, his 
amoretta. Other characters in this play are Sir Henry Courtly 
and his jealous wife ; the Lady Geosling, a newly married 
woman ; and four chattering girls, Mistresses Parle, Trifle, 
Vanity, and Fondly. The Matrimonial Tronble contains the 
history of several unfortunate marriages. Mistris Forsaken 
disguises herself as a man and courts her lover's wife, poison 
or cold steel being the end of all three. Monsieur Amorous 
gains the favor of Lady Wanton but is refused by Lady 
Chastity. Sir Humphrey and Lady Disagree fall out over 
trifles. Sir Timothy Spendall drinks his wife out of house and 

1 "To the Reader," prefixed to the 1637 Britannia. 

2 Scene xxiii. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 223 

home. Only imminent personal danger to her husband can 
shake the Lady Hypocondria from her fits of melancholy. The 
Lady Jealousy feels that her maid Nan is a deadly rival, the 
Lord Widower takes Doll Subtilty for his mistress, and Sir 
John Dotard marries Briget Greasy. The passages dealing 
with these three servants are frankly realistic and more spirited 
than much of the Duchess's work ; she was, we shall see, not 
altogether inexperienced in housekeeping, and maid-servants' 
ways were evidently well known to her. The interview between 
Briget and the Steward in Part I, scene ii, is an excellent bit 
of life below stairs, while the kitchen wench's subsequent airs 
as mistress of the house are vividly described if not specifically 
shown. 1 During the second part of this " come-tragedy " a new 
character is introduced, one Raillery Jester, the professional 
fool. Many of our authoress's fancies are put into his mouth, 
but he cannot be said to have the slightest individuality. 

The title characters of NaUcres three Datighters, Beauty, 
Love, and Wit are given French names in that play : Mada- 
moiselle La Belle, Madamoiselle Amour, and Madamoiselle 
Grand Esprit. The first weds Monsieur Heroick, after he 
has fought a duel with Monsieur Phantasie over their mis- 
tresses. Amour confesses her love for Heroick's brother 
Nobilissimo, who is a model horseman ^ (shades of New- 
castle !) and an exponent of the old Elizabethan spirit. " A 
Right bred Gentleman," he says, "is to know the use of the 
Sword, and it is more manly to assault, than to defend ; also 
to know how to mannage Horses, whereby we know how 
to assault our enemy as well as to defend our selves ; for it 
is not playing with a Fidle, and dancing a Measure makes 
a Gentleman ; for then Princes should dub Knighthood with 
a Fidle and give the stick, and a pair of Pumps, instead of a 

1 Part I, scenes vii, xiv, and xviii. 

2 Part I, scene xi. 



224 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Sword and a pair of Spurs," ^ Madamoiselle Grand Esprit 
turns out to be another of the loquacious ladies who do not 
marry at all. She talks of ignorance,^ self-love,^ vanity, vice, 
and wickedness,^ of beauty, ^ and of matrimonial love.^ She 
also states quite clearly the Duchess's creed, as it appears in 
her philosophical books •? 

The Harmony that is made out of discord, shews that there is only 
one absolute power and wise disposer, that cannot be opposed, having 
no Copartners, produces all things, being not produced by anything, 
wherefore must be Eternall and consequently infinite ; this absolute, 
wise and Eternal power Man calls God; but this absolute power, 
being infinite, he must of necessity be incomprehensible and being 
incomprehensible, must of necessity be unknown, yet glimpses of his 
power is, or may be seen ; yet not so, but that Man is forced to set 
up Candels of Faith, to light them, or direct them to that they cannot 
perfectly know, and for want of the clear light of knowledge, Man 
calls all Creations of this mighty power Nature. 

Among other personages figuring in this play are Monsieur Es- 
perance, who exasperates his wife by not noticing her clothes, 
and the Talkative Ladies, one more circle of conversationalists. 
The Religions relates the story of a child marriage between 
Lady Perfection and Lord Melancholy, later broken off by his 
father, Dorato. Melancholy is forced to wed another; and 
Perfection, wooed by the Arch-Prince, enters a convent. 
When Melancholy's wife dies, he seeks out his early love 
behind her grate, where they prepare to die on one double- 
pointed sword. This design is prevented, but, as the lady will 
not break her vow, the only solution is that she " marry this 
Lord again, and let him make the same Vow, and enter into 
the same Cloyster, and into the same Religious Order of 
Chastity, and being Man and Wife you are but as one 

1 Part I, scene viii. ^ Part II, scene xiii. 

2 Part I, scene vii. ^ Part II, scene xx. 
8 Part I, scene xiii. ' Part I, scene vii. 
* Part II, scene i. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 225 

person, so that if you be constant and true to your selves, you 
keep the Vow of Chastity ; for what is more Chast than law- 
full Marriage ? " ^ A strange character, Mistriss Odd-Humour, 
sporadically enters the action, with her favorite chair which 
she cannot bear to leave. Finally her father burns it and 
compels his daughter to take a husband. The Comical Hash 
is more devoid of plot than any play in the 1662 volume. 
Sir William Admirer's marriage with Lady Peaceable being 
the only tangible incident in its pages. There is much dis- 
cussion, however, especially as to originality in poets. As 
usual the Duchess thinks "an Imitator is but an Artificer, 
when as the Original Author is a Creator, and ought to be 
accounted of, and respected and worship 'd as Divine . . . Art 
cannot out do Nature, nor do as Nature hath done and doth 
do."^ Again in a personal vein she writes :^ '" Contemplative 
persons when they come into Company, or publick Societies, 
their tongues do as Boys, that having been kept hard to their 
studies, when once they get a play day, they run wildly about 
and many times do extravagant actions." And finally, with a 
broader application to her own writings than the Duchess ever 
imagined : ^ " 't is very unhappy for women that they are not 
instructed in the rules of Rhetoric, by reason they talk so 
much, that they might talk sensibly, whereas now for want of 
that Art, they talk meer nonsense." Some rudimentary knowl- 
edge of literary rules would have been inestimably valuable 
in assisting the authoress to a more important place in English 
literature, dramatic and otherwise. 

Bell in Campo, the last two-part play, seems to embody an 
ideal of womanhood. Although the Duchess has elsewhere 
forcibly expressed her opinion concerning feminine limitations, 
at the same time she evidently cherished a vague aspiration 

^ Scene xxxv. 8 Scene viii. 

2 Scene iv. * Scene xii. 



226 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

towards more virile qualities. At least the heroine of "As- 
saulted and Pursued Chastity " was a successful general, and 
here that situation is repeated,^ Lady Victoria persuades her 
husband, the Lord General, to let her go along on his mili- 
tary expedition, but later, when engagements threaten, she and 
the other women are sent away. In pique they form an army 
among themselves and after the men's defeat subdue the hos- 
tile Kingdom of Faction, thus restoring peace to their country. 
As a result many new laws, favorable to women, are enacted, 
while their general, the Lady Victoria, receives particular 
rewards and honors. Meantime Madam Jantil and Madam 
Passionate, whose husbands have been killed in the wars, pass 
very different widowhoods. Jantil builds an elaborate tomb, 
prays constantly before it, and at last, playing the swan, dies 
in music. Madam Passionate, on the other hand, marries 
young Monsieur Compaignon, only to have her money squan- 
dered and her person abused by the young husband. Follow- 
ing Bell in Campo comes The Apocriphal Ladies, already 
discussed in some detail, and then The Female Academy 
brings this volume to an end. The Academy is "a House 
wherein a company of young Ladies are instructed by old 
Matrons ; as to speak wittily and rationally and to behave 
themselves handsomly and to live virtuously." ^ Naturally the 
men do not like this arrangement and start a rival academy, 
but as their discourses always turn on women, the institution 
proves a failure. Then in an attempt to break up the female 
organization they play trumpets outside its lectures, until one 
of the Matrons pacifies them by laying the responsibility on 
the ladies' parents. Most of this action is described at second- 
hand, and the scenes themselves are mainly occupied with 
various abstract orations. 

1 See also " To the Two Universities," prefixed to the 1655 edition of Philo- 
sophical and Physical Opinions. ^ Scene i. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 227 

At the conclusion of this volume, in another letter, " To 
the Readers," the Duchess tells about a new work she is pro- 
jecting. The Life of William Cavendishe had been already 
begun, but as some necessary material was not yet at hand 
(presumably the depositions of John Rolleston), " I was forced 
to sit idle. . . . After some idle time, at last, I fell upon a vein 
of writing Letters and so fast did the vein run at first, as in 
one Fortnight I writ above three score Letters, but I find it 
begins to flag ... for though I desire to make them up a 
hundred, yet I believe I shall not go much further, finding 
my spirits of Fancy grow weak, and dull and the vein of Wit 
empty, having lately writ 2 1 Playes with 1 2 Epistles and one 
Introduction besides Prologues and Epilogues. . . . These 
letters I thought to joyn them to this Book of Playes, believ- 
ing there would not be so many of them, as to be in Folio, 
by themselves, but fearing I should surfeit my Readers with 
too great a Volume, I have altered that intention. . . . But it 
may be some will say there is enough of my Playes, to surfeit, 
as being not delicious and choyce food for the mind." Evi- 
dently some did say so,^ as in 1668, when Plays, Never Be- 
fore Printed appeared, their author states that, " malice cannot 
hinder me from Writing, wherein consists my chiefest delight 
and greatest pastime ; nor from Printing what I write, since 
I regard not so much the present as future Ages, for which I 
intend all my Books. When I call this new one Plays, I do 
not believe to have given it a very proper Title : for it would 
be too great a fondness to my Works to think such Plays as 
these suitable to ancient Rules, in which I pretend no skill ; or 

1 Scott makes the young Earl of Derby in Peveril of the Peak exclaim : 
" The fellow has brought me nothing but a parcel of tracts about Protestants 
and Papists and a folio play-book, one of the conceptions as she calls them, 
of that old mad-woman, the Duchess of Newcastle. ... I would not give one 
of Waller's songs or Denham's satires for a whole cart-load of her Grace's 
trash." — Border Edition, II, 5. 



228 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

agreeable to the modern Humor, to which I dare acknowledg 
my aversion : But having pleased my Fancy in writing many 
Dialogues upon several Subjects, and having afterwards order'd 
them into Acts and Scenes, I will venture in spight of the 
Criticks, to call them Plays." ^ 

The first drama in this 1668 volume, TJie Sociable Com- 
panions ; or, the Female Wits, deals with certain disbanded 
soldiers and their efforts to obtain a livelihood. The opening 
scene contains a vigorous account of contemporaneous sharpers' 
methods culminating in a rousing song, " Let's go to our New 
Plantation." Subsequently the Captain's sister. Peg, fathers a 
child on Get-all, the usurer, and by help of a mock spiritual 
court obtains him as husband. During the supposed midwife's 
testimony comes a phrase which might well stand as the plea 
of all over-realistic artists. '" But what is all this to the Con- 
fession of the Labouring Woman ? " the witness is asked in 
the midst of her superfluous details, "It is of concern," she 
replies, "for Circumstance is partly a declaring of truth." ^ 
Jane Fullwit takes service with Lawyer Plead-all as a man 
clerk, so that when the disguise is revealed, he has agreed to 
marry her. Lady Riches had meanwhile fallen in love with 
the fictitious clerk but on learning of the deception takes 
Dick Traveller to husband instead. Anne Sensible causes her 
brother to find her alone with Doctor Cure-all, and in view of 
this compromising situation she receives an offer of marriage. 
A rather more unrelated portion of the story concerns Lady 
Prudence's final acceptance of an aged suitor. Her insistence 
on the vices of young men and on wisdom in the old may 
hark back to the wedding of Margaret Lucas, aged twenty- 
two, and William Cavendish, thirty years her senior.^ 

1 "To the Readers," prefixed to Plays, 1668. - Act III, scene i. 

3 Compare The World's Olio, p. 136, where she says a woman should marry 
at twenty, but a man not until fifty, for by then he will have gained some 
knowledge ; and Natures Picture, p. 678, reiterates the former judgment. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 229 

The Presence has for its heroine an imaginative Princess, 
who finds that a common mariner is her dream-hero. The 
Emperor disapproves of this match but himself falls in love 
with the sailor, when that gentleman proves to be a woman in 
disguise. Later the existence of two persons, twin brother 
and sister, is discovered, and, as they are children to the Em- 
peror of Persia, a double wedding is easily arranged. Various 
courtiers and gentlewomen form the attendant court : Spend- 
all and Mode marry old women, after the latter has made sure 
that the young ladies will accept any man at all ; Conversant 
and Observer join themselves to Quick- wit and Self-conceit ; 
Madamoisel Bashful is won by the Lord of Loyalty, though 
she incurs criticism for going abroad with him unescorted, — 
one cannot but wonder whether this too is a reminiscence of 
events at Saint Germains. In and out of The Presence runs 
the Princess's Fool, at times vaguely recalling Shakespeare's 
Feste. Though how much inferior to Feste's quip, " Take 
away the fool, gentleman," ^ is the verbose " No, carry the 
Princess to the Emperor's Chamber, and let her there be whipt, 
for she is more Fool than I ; for she is in love with a Dream, 
and I am in love with a Princess." ^ Typical of the Duchess's 
method — or rather lack of it — are certain Scenes, twenty-nine 
in number, " designed to be put into the Presence, but by 
reason I found they would make that Play too long, I thought 
it requisite to Print them by themselves." Some of these 
additions develop Loyalty's courtship of Bashful, who, much 
like the Duchess, was sent to the court " to learn to discourse, 
and to refine her behaviour and to elevate her Spirit."^ The 
remaining superfluous scenes are occupied with a new story, 
which follows the fortunes of Monsieur Underward. On 
his father's death he is sold and then married to an old hag, 

1 Tivelfth Night, Act I, scene v. ^ Scene x. 

"^ The Presence, Act I, scene vii. 



230 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

that the Buyer may gain her portion. This wife later dies, 
whereupon Underward marries rich Madam Petitioner and 
retires into the country, much to the disgust of his servant, 
Tom Diogenes. There are numerous short digressions inter- 
woven : against gaming/ on office-buying and on favorites,'* 
on funeral rites,^ and on the body politic, which is anatomized 
according to Hobbes's Leviathan principles.^ Two scenes near 
the end are very fittingly written by Newcastle, to describe 
the excellences of country life and no doubt to justify his 
withdrawal from London activities. 

The Bridals begins with the weddings of Sir William Sage 
and Sir John Amorous to Lady Vertue and Lady Coy respec- 
tively. Monsieur Courtly, much annoyed by the attentions of 
women in general, falls desperately in love with Vertue, all in 
vain. Masters Longlife and Aged try to keep their witty son 
and daughter apart, on the ground that " great Wits for the 
most part have few Children, but what their brain produces, 
which are Ideas, Inventions and Opinions . . . and the produc- 
tion of these Incorporeal Children hinders the production of 
Corporeal Children." ^ Here the Duchess seems again to sound 
a personal note, but at any rate the two young people in ques- 
tion elope and are soon forgiven by their fathers. Mimick, a 
fool, plays considerable share in The Bridals with his arith- 
metical calculations ^ and his pretended orations,'^ while in 
one scene which is unspeakably low he goes quite beyond the 
pale of respectability.^ No commentary on Restoration indeli- 
cacy could be more striking than such work from the pen of 
the noble and virtuous Margaret Cavendish. The Convent of 
Pleastire is written in a more poetic vein than the Duchess's 
other dramas. Lady Happy decides to forswear the world and 

1 Scene ix. * Scene xvi. "^ Act III, scene ii. 

2 Scene xii. ^ Act II, scene iii. * Act IV, scene v. 
8 Scene xvii. * Act II, scene i. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 231 

shuts herself up in a convent, where men are not allowed. 
One gentleman disguises himself as a Princess, gains entrance, 
and wins Happy's love before he is discovered. This simple 
plot is made the framework for a short entertainment set- 
ting forth the evils of matrimony, ^ for a pastoral of shepherds 
and shepherdesses, and for a marine scene with the Princess 
as Neptune, Lady Happy as a sea-goddess,^ Throughout 
the whole play a large amount of verse occurs, none more 
satisfactory than a song of Happy's in the last-mentioned 
character. The Duchess actually seems stirred by her theme, 
when she writes : 

My cabinets are oyster-shells, 

In which I keep my Orient pearls, 

To open them I use the tide, 

As keys to locks, which opens wide, 

The oyster-shells then out I take ; 

Those, orient-pearls and crowns do make. 

And modest coral I do wear, 

Which blushes when it touches air. 

On silver waves I sit and sing, 

And then the fish lie listening : 

Then sitting on a rocky stone, 

I comb my hair with fishes bone ; 

The whilst Apollo, with his beams, 

Doth dry my hair from wat'ry streams. 

His light doth glaze the water's face, 

Makes the large sea my looking glass. 

So when I swim on waters high, 

I see myself as I glide by : 

But when the sun begins to burn, 

I back into my waters turn, 

And dive unto the bottom low : 

Then on my head the waters flow. 

In curled waves and circles round ; 

And thus with waters I am crown'd. 

1 Act III, scenes ii-x. 

2 Act IV, scene i. 



232 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

After The Convent of Pleasure the 1668 volume is brought 
to a conclusion with some fragments headed A Piece of a 
Play ; the Duchess states it is one " which I did intend for 
my Blazing-World and had been printed with it, if I had 
finish'd it ; but before I had ended the second Act, finding 
that my Genius did not tend that way, I left that design ; and 
now putting some other Comedies to the Press, I suffer this 
Piece of One to be publish 'd with them." ^ She also intended 
a farce to accompany her play but never got any further than 
naming the characters. In the two acts of the drama proper 
we see Lord Bear-man and Sir Puppy Dog-man trick them- 
selves out in the latest fashions to please their mistress, Lady 
Monkey. Dog-man is rejected and unceremoniously transfers 
his attention to Lady Leviret, already wooed by Sir Politick 
Fox, Monsieur Satyr, and Monsieur Ass. A strong propensity 
towards satire comes out in such a passage as that where Lord 
Bear-man enters, "all Accoutred in the mode, and all in the 
mode, careless and with Congies."^ 

Bear-man : Sir Politick Fox-man, my dear and obliging friend, how 
do I love thee ! for thou art the most meritorious person in the 
whole World. 

This fragment brings to an end the Duchess's dramatic work, 
which is of far greater amount than value. Her genius did 
not tend towards a form of composition subject to so many 
and such strict qualifications as playwriting, nor did she 
have any conception of depicting character, which is the 
backbone of that art. Judged as drama, her two volumes 
of plays are worthless. What they do contain, is here and 
there a bit of poetry, a well-put gnomic phrase, or some satir- 
ical exposition of contemporary society. Occasionally a per- 
sonal reference is discoverable, but, above all, the Duchess's 

^ " Advertisement." * Act II, scene i. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 233 

mental state, her ideals and her ideas, shine forth from the 
disconnected plots and impossible personages of her imagina- 
tion. Yet what is gained from perusing these plays hardly 
repays the time and labor necessary to extract the wheat from 
the chaff. Repetitions and involved discussions weary one's 
intellect, orations and " dialogue-discourses " tire the brain, and 
twenty-six plays are required to relate that which could have 
been told us in as many pages. The most important fact to 
be deduced from this whole phantasmagoria is the simplest as 
well as the most evident — the Duchess tried her hand at play- 
writing and failed. Here for once contemporary judgment 
was justified and has been sustained by posterity. 

Not unrelated to her dramatic activities was a book this 
authoress published in 1662 or 1663,^ under the title of Ora- 
tions of Divers Sorts, Accomodated to Divers Places. At first 
glance, such a volume seems decidedly original and indeed it 
is unusual, but one must remember that in the plays inci- 
dental orations on various topics were of common occurrence. 
The Duchess evidently took delight in writing them, they 
offered her an opportunity to express her " conceptions," and 
therefore it was natural she should project a collection of these 
speeches. They are all short but number one hundred and 
eighty (divided into fifteen sections), so that they form a small 
folio. The introductions as usual deserve attention. Newcastle 
writes to his wife with half -jocular kindliness :^ 

Were all the Grecian Orators alive, 
And swarms of Latines, that did daily strive 
With their perfum'd and only tongues to draw 
The deceiv'd people to their Will and Law 



^ Some copies are dated one year and some the other. See Diet. Nat. 
Biog., Firth, p. xxvi, and Harvard Copy (1663). Mr. Henry E. Huntington 
has a copy of each date. 

^ " To the Lady Marchioness of Newcastle on her Book of Orations." 



234 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

How short would all this be, did 3'ou but look 
On this admired Ladies witty Book ! 
All Europ's Universities, no doubt, 
Will study English now, the rest put out. 

The Duchess herself describes her detractors : ^ 

The truth is, they are a sort of Persons that in Playes preferr Plots 
before Wit and Scenes before Humours ; in Poems, Rime before 
Similizing and Numbers before Distinguishing ; in Theology, Faction 
before Faith, and Sophistry before Truth ; in Philosophy, Old Authors 
before New Truths, and Opinions before Reason. And in Orations 
they preferr Artificial Connexions before Natural Eloquence. 

That is to say, the Duchess's lack of restraint in writing was 
noticed by her contemporaries, and she was very justly criti- 
cized for an exuberant fancy in need of formal repression. 

" A Praefatory Oration " states that the orations were written 
'" rather to benefit my Auditors, than to delight them," but 
further on the authoress hopes that both ends may be achieved, 
a combination of the utile and dtdce again. Part I consists of 
" Orations to Citizens in a chief City concerning Peace and 
War," different speakers counselling different actions in a given 
situation. Part II, " Orations in the Field of War," are ad- 
dressed to soldiers under all the conceivable conditions favor- 
able to speechmaking. Part III, '" Orations to Citizens in the 
Market Place," wanders far afield in the three speeches con- 
cerning liberty of conscience, which conclude that sects are all 
very well if they submit to the State.^ Number 11 is "' An 
Oration against those that lay an Aspersion upon the Retire- 
ment of Noble men " and concludes that whether it be caused 
by affronts or not, no one should criticize. If there is a single 
theme of prevailing occurrence in the Duchess's work, surely 
it is this pique at the slights which brought about her lord's 

1 " To the Readers of my Works." 

2 Orations 12-14. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 235 

retirement from the court. Part IV, " Several Causes Pleaded 
in Several Courts of Judicature," contains pleadings for mur- 
der, adultery, theft, and inheritance. Several of the " Speeches 
to The King in Council " deal with two brothers condemned 
to death, who are finally pardoned because they killed their 
sister to wipe out her dishonor.^ Oration 7 emphasizes the 
importance of trade as Newcastle did in the " Little Book." 
Numbers 9 to 12 give advice how to treat common peti- 
tioners, the conclusion being to hold them in hand until the 
entire army is ready for action. Part VI is " Orations in Courts 
of Majesty, From Subjects to their King and From the King 
to his Subjects," when the people are rebellious, discontented, 
or submissive. All these political tracts are based on the 
Hobbesian conception that a monarch is the sine qua non 
of government. 

Part VII becomes more individual with its " Speeches of 
Dying Persons," of which Number 2, "A Daughters Dying 
Speech to her Father," may be quoted to show the Duchess's 
general style in this volume : 

Father, farewell ! And may that life which issues from my young 
and tender years be added to your age ! may all your grief be buried 
in my grave, and may the joys, pleasures and delights, that did attend 
my life, be servants unto yours ! may comfort dry your eyes, God 
cease your sorrows, that though I die, you may Uve happily. Why do 
you mourn that death must be your son-in-law 1 since he is a better 
husband, than any you could choose me, or I could choose myself ; it 
is a match that Nature and the Fates have made ; wherefore be con- 
tent, for it is not in your power to alter the decrees of fate for destiny 
cannot be opposed, but if you could, you would rob me of the happi- 
ness the Gods intend me ; for though my body shall dwell with death, 
my soul shall dwell in heaven ; and holy angels that are my marriage 
guests, will conduct it to that glory for which you have cause to joy, 
and not to grieve ; for all creatures live but to die, but those that are 
blessed die to live ; and so do I. Farewell. 

1 Orations 2-5. 



236 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Twenty-eight " Funeral Orations " compose Part VIII, the 
most remarkable of which is "A Post-Riders Funeral Oration," 
for " could his soul ride post on death to heaven, as his body 
rid post on a horse to death, he might outstrip many a soul 
that is gone before him." ^ In the " Funeral Oration of a 
Student," the Duchess says that this man was half dead before 
and that now his soul has escaped. Part IX is made up of four 
"Marriage Orations," Part X of "Orations to Citizens in the 
Market Place." The last of these, " An Oration for the Liberty 
of Women," introduces Part XI, "' Femal Orations," in which 
the problem to-day called Feminism is debated pro and con. 
We have already seen the Duchess rebelling against women's 
inabilities, and here she argues from opposite sides the ques- 
tion of her sex's emancipation. These speeches are about 
evenly divided in number,^ though Mr. Bickley says that vic- 
tory lies " with the advocates of passive femininity." ^ They 
have the last word certainly, and one may imagine that their 
creator sympathized with them, not by inclination but by what 
she felt the force of necessity. Margaret Cavendish would 
have liked to see women leading armies as they did in her 
imagination, yet she did not believe that their natures fitted 
them for such tasks. In the Orations, too, her scheme is pro- 
fessedly dramatic,* so that no final opinion need be formulated 
after different points of view have been expressed. 

Part XII, " Orations in Country Market-Towns, where 
Country Gentlemen meet," begins with arguments in favor of 
country life but degenerates into a drinking bout, concluding 

1 Oration 13. 

2 Out of seven speeches three are violently for, three are against, and 
one is cravenly neutral. 

8 The Cavendish Family, p. 125, where he wrongly says there are two books 
of orations, one for men and one for women. 

* " My Orations for the most part are Declamations, wherein I speak Pro 
and Con, and Determine nothing." — " The Preface " to CCXI Sociable Letters. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 237 

with the " Speech of a Quarter drunk Gentleman " and the 
" Speech of a Half drunken Gentleman," Part XIII contains 
" Orations in the Field of Peace," dealing with rural industry, 
and Part XIV, " Orations in a Disordered and Unsettled State 
or Government." The latter is naturally based on Hobbes's 
theory of a commonwealth and makes no original suggestions 
in regard to restoring a stable organization. The last speech 
in this group, " A Generals Oration to his Chief Command- 
ers," states that in the present condition of war ten bullets out 
of every eleven miss their mark. Part XV, " Scholastical Ora- 
tions," completes the three hundred and nine pages of this 
strange volume, which, like many of the Duchess's other works, 
is more interesting by reason of its existence than for any in- 
trinsic excellence. These orations are well enough in their 
way, but it is such an undramatic, monotonous way that they 
have practically no claim upon posterity. It was their author's 
habit to lay hold upon an idea, to envelop it with her formless 
images, and to hammer at it continuously. She followed this 
formula, with more or less success, in her poems, her philoso- 
phy, and her plays ; the Orations exemplify the same process 
on a smaller scale. 

IV 

CCXI SOCIABLE LETTERS (1664) AND THE BLAZING 
WORLD (1666) 

In 1664 Margaret Cavendish put forth still another kind of 
literature — her epistolary volume, the CCXI Sociable Letters)- 
We have already seen how, after her first book of plays was 
finished, she began to produce these imaginary letters, com- 
posing over sixty at first. One hundred was the number she 

^ Fifty-one of these letters are reprinted in Everyman's Library, and twenty- 
two of these fifty-one also appeared in pages 235-284 of Mr. Jenkins's selec- 
tions, The Cavalier and his Lady. 



238 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

hoped to complete, but her muse once started, it could not 
stop until the extraordinary number of two hundred and eleven 
had been written. Newcastle introduces them with his cus- 
tomary eulogy in verse, and an unnamed admirer (possibly the 
authoress herself) rhymes as follows : ^ 

This Lady only to her self she Writes 
And all her Letters to her self Indites ; 
For in her self, so many Creatures be, 
Like many Commonwealths, yet all Agree. 

The Duchess explains that she has composed this book be- 
cause she could not work,^ " I mean such Works as Ladies use 
to pass their Time withall, and if I Could, the Materials of 
such Works would cost more than the Work would be worth, 
besides all the Time and Pains bestow'd upon it. You may ask 
me, what Works I mean ; I answer. Needle-works, Spinning- 
works, Preserving-works, as also Baking, and Cooking-works, 
as making Cakes, Pyes, Puddings and the like, all of which I 
am Ignorant of ; and as I am Ignorant in these Imployments, 
so I am Ignorant in Gaming, Dancing and Revelling. But 
yet, I must ask you leave to say, that I am not a Dunce in all 
Imployments, for I Understand the Keeping of Sheep, and 
Ordering of a Grange, indifferently well, although I do not 
Busie my self much with it, by reason my Scribling takes 
away the most part of my Time. Perchance some may say, 
that if my Understanding be most of Sheep, and a Grange, it 
is a Beastly Understanding ; My answer is, I wish Men were 
as Harmless as most Beasts are, then surely the World would 
be more Quiet and Happy." This particular indignation against 
humanity is due to criticisms that had been passed upon her 
previous books, which she defends one by one with some 

1 " Upon her Excellency the Authoress." 

^ " To his Excellency the Lord Marquess of Newcastle." 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 239 

minuteness. Then fearing adverse comment on the present 
volume, our authoress anticipates it by a poem, " To the Cen- 
sorious Reader." 

The scheme of her work is clearly stated in Letter I : 

Madam, — You were pleas'd to desire, that, since we cannot con- 
verse personally, we should converse by letters, so as if we were speak- 
ing to each other, discoursing our opinions, discovering our designs, 
asking and giving each other advice ; also telling the several accidents, 
and several imployments of our home-affairs, and what visits we re- 
ceive, or entertainments we make, and whom we visit, and how we 
are entertain'd ; what discourses we have in our gossiping-meetings, 
and what reports we hear of publick affairs, and of particular persons, 
and the like ; so that our letters may present our personal meetings and 
associatings. 

In another place we are told that the reason these effusions 
are cast " in the Form of Letters, and not of Playes, is, first, 
that I have put forth Twenty Playes already, which number 
I thought to be Sufficient, next, I saw that Variety of Forms 
did Please the Readers best, and that lastly they would be more 
taken with the Brevity of Letters, than the Formality of Scenes, 
and whole Playes, whose Parts and Plots cannot be Understood 
till the whole Play be Read over, whereas a Short Letter will 
give a Full Satisfaction of what they Read." 1 A careful 
peruser of the Duchess's books, then, will expect to find little 
novelty in these "Sociable Letters" beyond their form, and 
such proves to be the case. Their subjects we have already 
found to repletion throughout her earlier writings, although 
this collection is unique in the diversity of its range. Almost 
every side of Margaret Cavendish's literary activity finds some 
expression here, with a corresponding confusion as the in- 
evitable result. None among her works better synthesizes 
her complete accomplishment, none would be more amazing 
to the uninitiated. 

1 " The Preface." 



240 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Perhaps the commonest theme in these epistles is women, 
their characteristics and their abihties. As usual, the Duchess 
has no very high opinion of her sex's wisdom,^ but she still 
is ambitious enough to envy men's greater capacities.^ Women 
are too much occupied with gossip ^ and dancing, romances and 
courtships,* too completely overruled by the vagaries ^ of tyran- 
nic fashion,^ for their minds to be more than " shops of small- 
wares, wherein some have pretty toyes, but nothing of any 
great value." '^ Feminine influence must come indirectly, for 
" not only Wives and Mistresses have prevalent power with 
Men, but Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, Aunts, Cousins, nay 
Maid-Servants have many times a persuasive power with their 
Masters, and a Land-lady with her Lodger, or a she-Hostess 
with her he-Guest ; yet men will not believe this, and 't is the 
better for us, for by that we govern as it were by an insensible 
power, so as men perceive not how they are Led, Guided and 
Rul'd by the Feminine Sex." ^ Some instances of this fact 
are given in other letters,^ but most marriages discussed by the 
Duchess do not turn out so well. In one case divorce is 
narrowly averted,^*' there are several matches of convenience,^^ 
while censorious wives,^^ fickle husbands,^^ and general incom- 
patibility ^^ disturb many marital relationships. Sir G. C. (for 
the characters in this book are designated by initials) has a 
terrific altercation with his wife, because " the Cook knowing 
his Master loved not rost Beef, sent in a Chine of rost Beef 
to the Table, and when her Guests were all Set, and beginning 
to Eat, she was very angry, to have, as she thought her Feast 

1 Letter IX. 8 Letter XVI. 

2 Letter XXVII. ^ Letters XII, CIV, CX. 
8 Letter XCI. 1° Letters CLIII, CLV. 

4 Letter XXI. ii Letters LXXIX, CLXXV. 

6 Letter C XX VIII. ^^ Letter C 1 1 1 . 

6 Letter LXIII. is Letter XXXV. 

» Letter X. w Letter LX. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 241 

disgraced with an old English fashion, and not only an Old, 
but a Countrey fashion, to have Beef serv'd to their Table," ^ 
Jealousy is the root of most domestic evil, as was exemplified 
by a woman 2 who lived next door to the Newcastles during 
their exile.^ Her husband flirted with one of the Duchess's 
maids, at first stuffing flowers through a hole in the door 
between their gardens and afterwards throwing a handkerchief 
filled with sweetmeats into the girl's room at night.^ The 
maid's confession of ignorance whence these trifles came 
finally pacified the irate wife, though not until considerable 
time and attention had been expended upon that matter. 

Jealousy, indeed, is a common failing among human beings, 
not only jealousy in love,^ but of women towards one another,^ 
and a general envy of the powerful.^ Bragging, too, is fre- 
quently found in this world ^ and gaming as well, especially at 
tennis, which seems to be played out of covetousness, not for 
recreation or exercise : ^ 

Tennis is too Violent a Motion for Wholsome Exercise, for those that 
Play much at Tennis, impair their Health and Strength, by Wasting 
their Vital Spirits through much Sweating, and weaken their Nerves 
by overstraining them, neither can Tennis be a Pastime, for it is too 
Laborious for Pastime, which is onely a Recreation, and there can be 
no Recreation in Sweaty Labour. 

Bad critics,^'^ busybodies,ii officious will-makers,^^ and courte- 
sans ^^ come in for their share of condemnation, but especial op- 
probrium gets heaped upon the Puritans. A burlesque of their 

1 Letter XXXII. 2 Letter CXXIV. 

3 Because of the jealous wife's letter of complaint " being in another Lan- 
guage, I could not read it." 

* A window was open on account of the heat, and this made the occurrence 
possible. ^ Letter CI. 

s Letters XXIII, CVIII. 10 Letter CIX. 

6 Letters CV, CLXXI. " Letter CX. 

7 Letter XXXI. 12 Letter CVII. 

« Letters XXII, LXIV. 1* Letters XXXVI, LVII. 



242 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

sermons occurs/ and it is remarked that "those ministers 
preach more their own words than God's, for they interpret 
the Scripture to their own sense, or rather to their factious 
humours and designs ; and after their sermons, their female 
flocks gossip Scripture, visiting each other to confer notes 
and make repetitions of the sermons, as also to explain and 
expound them. For, first the minister expounds the Scripture, 
and then the women-hearers expound the sermon ; so that 
there are expoundings upon expoundings, and preaching upon 
preaching, insomuch as they make such a medley or hash of 
the Scripture, as certainly the right and truth is so hidden and 
obscured that none can find it."^ A religious woman, Mrs. P. I., 
urges long extemporaneous prayers,^ but the Duchess does not 
approve of them : 

I can hardly believe God can be pleased with so many words, for 
what shall we need to speak so many words to God, who knows our 
thoughts, minds and souls, better than we do our selves? Christ did 
not teach us long prayers, but a short one, nay, if it were lawful for 
men to similize God to his creatures (which I think it is not), God 
might be tired with long and tedious petitions or often repetitions ; 
but, Madam, good deeds are better than good words, in so much as 
one good deed is better than a thousand good words.* 

These reflections on Puritanism show that the Civil War 
was never far from Margaret Cavendish's thoughts, and, more- 
over, she often mentions it expressly.^ Her desire that the 
commons should be subordinated,*^ her exclamations against 
duelling "^ and upon the necessity of exact titles ^ depend more 
or less upon that great event. It broke up many friendships,^ 
confused preachers with soldiers, ^^ and left in its wake a 

1 Letter LXXVI. 6 Letter LXV. 

2 Letter XVIL ' Letter LXVIIL 

8 Letter LL s Letter CLXXVL 

* Letter LIX. 9 Letter CXX. 

6 Letters IX, XVI, XL, CXIX. lo Letter XL. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 243 

contempt for learned men.^ This last evil was of course magni- 
fied into incredible proportions by the Duchess, who believed 
that poets and philosophers were the happiest as well as the 
wisest people on earth .^ She planned to bring up any children 
of hers in accordance with that principle,^ meanwhile devot- 
ing her talents to its establishment. The most fanciful and 
consequently in some ways the most characteristic letter in her 
collection describes a banquet of poets, at which she was the 
only woman present.^ Their food and appointments were suit- 
able to the occasion, and afterwards they all walked up Par- 
nassus for exercise and looked at the surrounding landscape 
through perspective glasses. Another time our authoress imag- 
ined that she was empress of all the world,^ and yet again her 
absent-mindedness got her into serious trouble : ^ 

For I one day sitting a Musing with my own Thoughts, was Con- 
sidering and Pondering upon the natures of Mankind, and Wondering 
with my Self, why Nature should make all Men some wayes or other 
Defective, either in Body, or Mind, or both, for a Proof I Chose out 
One whom I thought the freest from Imperfections, either in Mind, 
or Body, which was the Lady A. N. and I took Pen and Paper, and 
Writ down all the Defects I could Think or had Observed in her, and 
upon an other all the Excellencies she was Indued with, by Nature, 
Heaven, and Education, which last Pleased me so Well, as I was 
resolved to send her a Copy in a Letter ; but when I was to send her 
the Letter, both the Papers lying upon my Table, I mistook the right 
Paper that was in her Praise and sent that which was in her Dispraise, 
never reading it when I sent it. 

First and last the Duchess tells us a good deal about herself 
in the CCXI Sociable Letters. Her melancholy ,'' her bashful- 
ness,^ and her retired life^ are all noticed, together with the 

1 Letter CLXIX. « Letter LXVI. 

2 Letter XIV. ' Letter VIII. 

8 Letter LXXV. 8 Letter CXXXVII. 

* Letter XCIX. 9 Letters XXIX, XC, CXLVIL CLVIII. 

6 Letter CXCVII. 



244 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

ill health that inevitably followed lack of exercise.^ One also 
suspects Margaret Cavendish of figuring as the Lady V. R., 
who, when she is sick, " doth like the man that was in a 
Storm, who in the time of Danger promised the Blessed 
Virgin Mary, to Offer to her Altar a Candle as Big and as 
Long as the Mast of the Ship, if ever he came to Shore ; so 
the Lady V. R. when she is Sick, promises, if ever she Recover, 
she will take the Air, and Use Exercises, but being Restored 
to Health, she Forgets her Promise, or only Looks out of a 
Window for Once or Twice, and Walks Two or Three turns 
in a Day, in her Chamber." ^ Sometimes the Duchess dis- 
cusses Plutarch,^ and again she holds forth with her customary 
eloquence on servants,^ orators,^ or the educational value of 
toys.^ In this last epistle may be detected a lurking regret at 
her own childlessness, which is confirmed by a scornful diatribe 
against pregnant women's affectations'^ and against excessive 
wish for offspring. Feminine nature might well have hidden 
the chagrin of disappointing her husband under the assertion 
that, " Many times Married Women desire Children as Maids 
do Husbands more for Honour than for Comfort or Happi- 
ness." ^ More abstractly and also more platitudinously we are 
informed that beauty is transitory,^ that happiness lies within 
us,^*^ and that wisdom comes with age.^^ As usual the Duchess 
emphasizes the necessity of faith, ^ because God, who disposes 
all things, ^^ is beyond our understanding. " O Foolish and 
Conceited Man ! " ^^ she exclaims, and again, " Man is so Pre- 
sumptuous, as to Assimilize God, as also to Pretend to know 

1 Letter CXIX. « Letter XCIII. 

2 Letter CXXX. » Letter CLXXX. 
8 Letters XXV, CLXXXVIL lo Letter CIL 

* Letters LXI, CLXXIX. " Letters XX, XXIV. 

5 Letters XXVII, XXVIII, CXVII. 12 Letter XXXVII. 

6 Letter CLII. is Letter LXXIV. 

7 Letter XLVII. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 245 

what God sayes, making him to Speak Hke Man ; also to 
express him to have Passions ; but if God be Absolute and 
Incomprehensible, it is an High Presumption to Assimilize 
God to any Creature." ^ The Church of England seems to 
her the most uncontaminated creed in spite of too much lay 
reading,^ although " one may be my very good Friend, and 
yet not of my opinion, everyone's Conscience in Religion is 
betwixt God, and themselves, and it belongs to none other. "^ 
This breadth or weakness of religious belief is not echoed by 
Newcastle in discussing the heathen, who "are Govern'd by 
Lies and Fables,"* yet he too admits that "every Man hath 
his Weak and his Strong Side, and if he do Compare him- 
self with another, he doth it not Justly, for he Compares his 
Strong Parts with the other mans Weak Parts, and it seems 
Truth when so Compared." 

A good many of the Duchess's letters deal with those meta- 
physical conceptions which lie behind her philosophical books.^ 
Atoms,^ vacuum,^ the planets,^ are discussed, and diseases 
occupy no less than seven epistles,^ The properties of cream 
receive some attention,!'^ and it is explained that standing tires 
one more than walking, because "when any one Stands still, 
the Nerves and Sinews are Stretch'd straight out at Length, 
but when one Walks or Moves, they have Liberty, as being 
Unbent and Unstretch'd." " Her Philosophical and Physical 
Opinions is specifically defended ^^ and her Orations rather 
consciously depreciated in a letter that must have been 

1 Letter CLXX. 2 Letter LXXXVII. 3 Letter XVL 

* Letter CLXXXIV. He also quotes a saying of Sir Philip Sidney's : 

" Hath a man any good thing in him ? Love him for that, for there are many 

that have none." 

5 Letter CLVII. '^ Letter CLXI. 

6 Letter CLIX. 8 Letters CXXXV, CXXXVII. 

9 Letters CXXXII, CXXXVI, CXXXIX, CXL, CXLIX, CCVIII, CCIX. 

10 Letters CLIV, CLX. 

11 Letter CLVI. 12 Letter CXLIV. 



246 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

written before its publication.^ Prefatory epistles alone ought to 
be used for self-praise she thinks,^ although satirical writers 
employ such material in the body of their work and thus re- 
veal their own complacency.^ Margaret Cavendish is so sure 
that a man can be known by his writings'^ that she under- 
takes considerable literary criticism in the " Sociable Letters." 
Romances are always scorned as demoralizing and vapid ; ^ 
complimentary poems have "seldom much Wit or Fancy, 
onely Flattery, Rime and Number " ; ^ new authors gain little 
applause at home, especially among students, who " despise all 
New Works, and only delight in Old Worm-eaten Records." "^ 
The Scriptures are no fit subject for a layman to treat,^ nor 
does Scriptural paraphrasing command much respect : ^ 

I cannot say but it may be pleasing to read, but I doubt whether 
it will be well to write it ; for whosoever doth heighten the sacred 
scriptures, by poetical expressions, doth translate it to the nature of 
a romance, for the ground of a romance is for the most part truth, but 
upon those truths are feignings built ; and certainly the Scripture and 
feignings ought not to be mixed together, for so holy a truth ought 
not to be express'd fabulously ; wherefore in my opinion no subject 
is so unfit for poetical fancies as the Scriptures, for though poetry is 
divine, yet it ought not to obstruct and obscure the truth of sacred 
historical prose. 

The use of initials in this work is often very puzzling. 
Lord B., for instance, who was learned, eloquent, witty, and 
wise, and whose writings have kindled the brains of others,^^ 
suggests at once Lord Bacon. Sir W. D. may well be Sir 
William Davenant ; and his heroic poem, which, unlike 
older examples of that genre, is quite probable, coincides 
with Gondibert : ^^ 

1 Letter CLXXV. 6 Letters LXX, LXXVII. » Letter CXXIX. 

2 Letter LXXIX. e Letter LXXIL i" Letter LXIX. 

8 Letter LXXIIL '^ Letter LXXVIII. " Letter CXXVIL 

4 Letter CXXVI. 8 Letter LXXXVI. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 247 

Of all the Heroick Poems I have read, I like Sir W. Ds as being 
Most and Nearest to the Natures, Humours, Actions, Practice, Designs, 
Effects, Faculties, and Natural Powers, and Abilities of Men or Human 
Life, containing no Impossibilities or Improbabilities : Indeed such an 
Heroick Poem it is, that there cannot be found any Fault therein, 
unless he seem'd to have too much Care or Pains taken in the Expres- 
sion of his Descriptions. , . . But had the Language been as Easie, as 
Fine, and had not those Choice Expressions been so Closely Compact, 
but were as Usual, as his Descriptions are Natural, certainly it had 
been a President for all Heroick Poems. 

S. A.'s contemporary history of Charles I is censured for mud- 
dhng the figures in regard to Newcastle's expenditures when 
he entertained the King at Welbeck and Bolsover ; ^ the 
Duchess guarantees to set that matter straight in her forth- 
coming biography, a promise which we know she carried out 
to the letter. Meanwhile she compares her husband in valour 
to Caesar, in fancy to Ovid (whom she vastly prefers to 
Virgil),^ and in dramatic authorship to Shakespeare.^ 

The latter author comes in for more particular and more 
discriminating criticism than is usually meted out by our 
authoress : ^ 

Shakespear did not want wit, to express to the life all sorts of 
persons, of what quality, profession, degree, breeding, or birth soever ; 
nor did he want wit to express the divers, and different humours, or 
natures, or several passions in mankind ; and so well he hath expressed 
in his playes all sorts of persons, as one would think he had been 
transformed into every one of those persons he hath described ; and 
as sometimes one would think he was really himself the clown or 
jester he feigns, so one would think, he was also the king, and privy 
counsellor; also as one would think he were really the coward he 
feigns, so one would think he were the most valiant, and experienced 
soldier ; who would not think he had been such a man as his Sh-Johi 
Falstaffl and who would not think he had been Harry the Fifth? 
& CGTtsanXy Jtilius Caesar, Augustus Caesar, and Antontus did never 

1 Letter CLXIV. * Letter CLXII. 

2 Letter CXLVI. * Letter CXXIII. 



248 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

really act their parts better, if so well, as he hath described them, and 
I believe that Antottius and Brutus did not speak better to the people, 
than he hath feign'd them : nay, one would think that he had been 
metamorphosed from a man to a woman, for who would describe 
Cleopatra better than he hath done, and many other females of his 
own creating, as Nan Page, Mrs. Page, Mrs. Ford, the doctor's maid, 
Bettrice, Mrs. Quickly, Doll Tearsheet, and others, too many to relate? 
and in his tragick vein, he presents passions so naturally, and misfor- 
tunes so probably, as he peirces the souls of his readers with such a 
true sense and feeling thereof, that it forces tears through their eyes, 
and almost persuades them they are really actors, or at least present 
at those tragedies. Who would not swear he had been a noble lover, 
that could woo so well ? and there is not any person he hath described 
in his book, but his readers might think they were well acquainted 
with them. . . . Shakespear's wit and eloquence was general, for, and 
upon all subjects, he rather wanted subjects for his wit and eloquence 
to work on, for which he was forced to take some of his plots out of 
history, where he only took the bare designs, the wit and language 
being all his own ; and so much he had above others, that those, who 
writ after him, were forced to borrow of him, or rather to steal from him. 

Some of these "Sociable Letters" were written after the 
Newcastles' return, as there are felicitations over that event ^ 
and a note on hearing that '" the ship was drowned wherein the 
man was that had charge and care of my playes, to carry them 
into E. to be printed, I being then in A."^ Other epistles 
reflect experiences upon the Continent : women's enforced 
travel,^ trepidation over a return home,^ the courtesy due to 
creditors,^ with comments on Holland and the Dutch.^ Certain 
Antwerp descriptions are redolent of life there : '^ 

I am so full of fear, as I write this letter Avith great difficulty, for all 
this city hath been in an uproar, and all through a factious division be- 
twixt the common council, and those they call the Lords, which are the 
higher magistrates. The common people gather together in multitudes, 

1 Letter LXXXIV. 5 Letter XLI. 

2 Letter CXLIIL 6 Letter CXV. 

8 Letter XCIX. 7 Letter CLXXII. 

* Letters CXLI, CLXV. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 249 

pretending for the right of their privileges, but it is thought the design 
is to plunder the merchants' houses, and the churches. ... I am ex- 
tremely afraid, insomuch that at every noise I hear, if I be not with my 
husband I run to find him out, so that I write this letter but by starts. 

The climate of Antwerp seemed very severe to the Duchess, 
for she frequently complains about cold weather in her ac- 
counts of sleighing and sliding.^ One day her husband's per- 
suasion brought her "' out of the city, as without the walls, to 
see men slide upon the frozen moat, or river, which runs, or 
rather stands about the city walls, as a trench and security 
thereof ; and I being warm inclosed in a mantle, and easily 
seated in my coach, began to take pleasure to see them slide 
upon the ice, insomuch as I wished I could, and might slide, 
as they did." ^ However, she did not attempt that feat, but 
when she returned home her thoughts quite naturally took to 
sliding in her brain. When fine weather came again, the 
Duchess ventured out, despite her bad health, to see the pre- 
Lenten carnival which was Antwerp's chief diversion.^ At 
other times travelling mountebanks and actors visited the city,^ 
especially a certain quack doctor with his fool, Jaen Potage. 
Two women took part in the troupe's performances, which 
were so pleasing to the Duchess " as I caused a Room to be 
hired in the next House to the Stage, and went every day to 
see them." ^ After they were ejected from town, her thoughts 
began to act upon the stage of her brain, until the magistrates 
of the mind did away with such follies. 

In another Antwerp letter, the Duchess explains why she 
sings ballads rather than songs written by Newcastle and set 
to music by a Mr. Duarti.^ Her modesty asserts that, "the 

1 Letters CXC-CXCII. 2 Letter CXCII. ^ Letter CXCIV. 

* Letters CXCIII and CXCV. 6 Letter CXCV. 

^ This gentleman, who was of Portuguese extraction, is mentioned in the 
Life, Firth, p. 67, and a letter from him appears in Letters and Poems in Honouf 
of the Duchess, 1676. 



250 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Vulgar and Plainer a Voice is, the Better it is for an Old 
Ballad ; for a Sweet Voice, with Quavers, and Trilloes and 
the like, would be as Improper for an Old Ballad, as Golden 
Laces on a Thrum Suit of Cloth, Diamond Buckles on Clouted 
or Cobbled Shoes, or a Feather on a Monk's Hood ; neither 
should Old Ballads be sung so much in a Tune as in a Tone, 
which Tone is betwixt Speaking and Singing," ^ This epistle 
is addressed to one of Mr. Duarti's sisters, Eleanora by name,^ 
and with nine others makes up a series written to " my Near 
and Dear Relatives, and Kind and Obliging Friends." They 
comprise Letters CC-CCX and include two to Eleanora 
Duarti,^ one to Margaret's " Sister Pye," * and one to her un- 
married sister Ann, warning against the dangers of ill-advised 
matrimony.^ " Sweet Madam C. H." is urged to return to her 
parents,^ and another lady receives the customary'^ arguments 
in favor of a rural life.^ The Duchess wrote to her brother- 
in-law,9 to a clergyman,!^ and to a doctor, ^^ so that these ten 
documents were apparently composed for actual correspondence. 
Letter CCXI, the last in this volume, is sent to her fictitious 
friend, with apologies '" for Mixing some other Letters with 
those to your self " and for not including " the answers to 
those Letters, wherein you were pleased to Propound several 
Philosophical Questions for me to Resolve." They are so 
long and so particular that she will make another book out of 
them, a book which was given to the world that same year as 
Philosophical Letters. As we have seen, it materially differs 
from this earlier collection. 

1 Letter CCII. 

2 The others were called Katherine and Frances. 
8 Letters CCII and CCVI. 

* Letter CC. Her sister Catherine married Sir Edmund Pye. 
6 Letter CCI. 

6 Letter CCIV. ^ Letter CCV. 

7 Letters III, LV, LXXXII, CXLII. 1° Letter CCVII. 

8 Letter CCX. " Letters CCVIII, CCIX. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 251 

The Duchess's purpose in her two hundred and eleven 
epistles was to make them " rather scenes than letters, for I 
have endeavoured under cover of letters to express the humours 
of mankind, "1 and, in doing so, she made her work of real 
literary importance. Though its content does not radically 
vary from that of her other writings, its form and its avowed 
intention, dimly, gropingly, but surely, foreshadow the later 
letter-novels. Many series of imaginary letters paved the way 
for Richardson, from the Epistolcs Ho-Eliance to the Letters 
of Eloisa and Abe lard, but that which Margaret Cavendish 
contributed did not depend upon tradition or imitation. What- 
ever fortuitous impulse she gave to this growing tendency 
came entirely out of her own inner consciousness apart from 
exterior influences. It has been stated by M. Jusserand that 
the CCXI Sociable Letters were especially important in the 
development of fictitious narrative and that they are to be 
regarded as almost an anticipation of Richardson,^ but that is 
a claim which even partiality cannot substantiate. They are 
too disconnected, too episodic, too altogether typical of the 
Duchess to be of greater value than their mere existence implies. 
Yet they are by no means the dullest portion of her work, 
and they inspired Charles Lamb to a delightful appreciation 
in " The Two Races of Men. "^ " But what moved thee, way- 
ward, spiteful K.,"^ he implores an unprincipled borrower of 
books, "to be so importunate to carry off with thee, in spite 
of tears and adjurations to thee to forbear, the Letters of 
that princely woman, the thrice noble Margaret Newcastle } — 
knowing at the time, and knowing that I knew also, thou most 
assuredly wouldst never turn over one leaf of the illustrious 

1 "The Preface." 

^ In his discussion of the Duchess in The English Novel in the Time of 
Shakespeare, 1895, p. 378. 

2 Essays of Elia, p. 50. 

* James Kenny, the playwright. 



252 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

folio : — what but the mere spirit of contradiction, and childish 
love of getting the better of thy friend ? — Then, worst cut of 
all ! to transport it with thee to the Gallican land — 

Unworthy land to harbor such a sweetness, 

A virtue in which all ennobling thoughts dwelt, 

Pure thoughts, kind thoughts, high thoughts, her sex's wonder." 

The Duchess's most finished production, her Life of William 
Cavendishe, was published in 1667, but in the previous year 
she had brought out another work, which, if not so impor- 
tant, was far more typical. For in The Description of a New 
World, called The Blazing World, appended to her Obser- 
vations iipon Experiniejttal Philosophy, our authoress at last 
set herself her proper task by professedly embarking on an 
imaginative enterprise. "' If you wonder that I join a work 
of Fancy to my serious Philosophical Contemplations," she 
writes, "think not that it is out of disparagement to Phi- 
losophy ; or out of an opinion, as if this noble study were 
but a Fiction of the Mind ; for though Philosophers may 
err in searching and enquiring after the Causes of Natural 
Effects and many times embrace falsehoods for Truth ; yet 
this doth not prove, that the Ground of Philosophy is merely 
Fiction ... for that Reason searches the depth of Nature 
and enquires after the true Causes of Natural Effects ; but 
Fancy creates of its own accord whatsoever it pleases, and 
delights in its own work. The end of Reason is Truth ; the 
end of Fancy, is Fiction." Margaret Cavendish refuses to 
believe, much less to admit, that her philosophy is not based 
upon scientific observation, but she indirectly connects it with 
the realms of fantasy when she goes on in this fashion : ^ 

Lest my Fancy should stray too much, I chose such a Fiction as 
would be agreeable to the subject I treated of in the former parts; 
it is a Description of a New World, not such as Lucian's, or the 

1 " To the Reader," prefixed to The Biasing World. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 253 

Frenchman's World in the Moon ; but a World of my own Creating, 
which I call the Blazing-World : The first part whereof is Romancical, 
the second Philosophical and the third is merely Fancy or (as I may 
call it) Fantastical. 

The romance begins with a foreigner's falHng in love with 
a certain aristocratic young lady and carrying her off from the 
seashore in a ship prepared especially for that purpose. They 
set sail and reach the pole, whereupon all the sailors freeze 
to death ; for this is the juncture of our planet with another 
world, whose suns are so far away that we cannot see them 
without strong telescopes. Several men shaped like bears 
presently come on board, carry oif the lady, and sink her 
boat. They treat the prisoner kindly and send her to their 
emperor through the territory of Fox-men and Bird-men. 
Her journey is minutely described, until she reaches a pal- 
ace set on a hill, where even freer rein is given to the 
Duchess's imagination. An imperial throne stands in every 
apartment, a maze of pillars bewilders the stranger, and the 
room of state is paved with green diamonds, " (for in that 
World are Diamonds of all colours), the roof of arches blue 
ones, a carbuncle representing the sun. Out of this room 
there was a passage into the Emperors Bed-chamber, the 
walls whereof were of Jet and the floor of black Marble, the 
roof was of mother of Pearl, where the Moon and Blazing- 
stars were represented by White Diamonds, and his Bed was 
made of Diamonds and Carbuncles." The customs of this 
country are described at some length, but they are only 
those of an ideal Hobbesian commonwealth, for "a Monarchy 
is a divine form of Government, and agrees most with our 
Religion ; for as there is but one God, whom we all unan- 
imously worship and adore with one Faith, so we are re- 
solved to have but one Emperor to whom we all submit 
with one obedience." 



254 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

This Emperor makes our heroine his wife, and her first 
proceedings plunge us at once into the philosophical section. 
Various groups of subjects are summoned to answer her ques- 
tions. The Bird-men are catechized of the air, the Worm-men 
of the earth, the Fish-men of the sea, and each answers in 
the jargon of pseudo-science. The Ape-men or Chemists dis- 
agree as to fundamentals, but the Empress tells them that 
self-moving matter is the only cause of Nature, so that it is 
useless to quarrel over primary ingredients. She finds that 
the people do not all accept her beliefs, and in order to con- 
vert them she builds two chapels, one of star-stone, figuring 
Heaven, the other of fire-stone to represent Hell ; from these 
she preaches respective sermons of comfort and terror. Mean- 
while the Flye-men tell her there are Immaterial Spirits in 
the air, and she sends after them to learn of affairs in her 
own world. They give her what information they can but 
say their immaterial vehicles prevent them from taking an 
active share in physical life, for these vehicles, although some- , 
times changed in form, always cling to them. The Spirits 
agree to make a cabbala for the Empress, and when the 
question of a scribe is broached she chooses the soul of the 
Duchess of Newcastle, " for the principle of her Writings, is 
Sense and Reason." The Duchess persuades the Empress to 
write a poetical or romancical cabbala, is taken into high favor 
and kept some time in that region, so that " by this means the 
Duchess came to know and give this Relation of all that 
passed in that rich, populous and happy world." 

The Duchess presently comes to desire a world of her own, 
which according to the Spirits' advice she herself makes inside 
of her, and thereafter this same pattern is copied by the less 
imaginative Empress. Some time later the sovereign takes 
a fancy to see that world from which the Duchess came and 
leaving a spirit in her royal body undertakes an incorporeal 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 255 

pilgrimage to earth. First they visit the Grand Signior, but 
he seems far inferior to the King of England, who is supreme 
not only in politics but in religion as well. At a theatre in 
London the Empress thinks that " the Actors make a better 
show than the Spectators, and the Scenes a better than the 
Actors, and the Musick and Dancing is more pleasant and 
acceptable than the Play it self." Just as the Duchess ante- 
dated Richardson in her CCXI Sociable Letters, so here she 
approaches the idea later to be developed by Montesquieu in 
his Lettres Persanes and by Goldsmith in his Citizen of the 
World papers. To be sure, the admirable opportunity for 
satire in a foreigner's impressions of one's own country goes 
for almost nothing in the Duchess's hands, but she does not 
let slip her chance for fulsome adulation. The travellers come 
to court, where the Empress asserts that, "' in all the Monarchs 
she had seen in that World, she had not found so much 
Majesty and affability mixt so exactly together, that none did 
overshadow or eclipse the other ; and as for the Queen, she 
said, that Vertue sate Triumphant in her face and Piety was 
dwelling in her heart and that all the Royal family seem'd 
to be endued with a Divine splendor : but when she had 
heard the King discourse, she believ'd, that Mercury and 
Apollo had been his Celestial instructors ; and my dear Lord 
and Husband, added the Duchess, has been his Earthly 
Governour." 

The Duke himself is soon discovered performing at manage 
and sword-play in his dismantled castle. " But the Duchess's 
soul being troubled, that her dear Lord and Husband used 
such a violent exercise before meat, for fear of overheating 
himself,^ without any consideration of the Emperess's soul, left 
her aereal Vehicle, and entred into her Lord. The Emperess's 
soul perceiving this, did the like : And then the Duke had 

1 See the Life, Part III, Section 15 (Firth, p. 112), for the same sentiment. 



256 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

three Souls in one Body ; and had there been but some such 
Souls more, the Duke would have been like the Grand-Signior 
in his Seraglio, onely it would have been a Platonick Seraglio." 
Soon a Spirit comes to tell the Empress her husband is 
melancholy without her, and she prepares to return to the 
Blazing World. The Duchess begs her to make an agree- 
ment between Newcastle and Fortune, to whom access is 
gained by the Spirits after both ladies leave this earth. 
Prudence and Honesty uphold the Duke, but Folly and 
Rashness are quite as influential with fickle Fortune. The 
Duchess, weeping, departs for her home again, after urging 
the Empress to continue a monarchical form of government. 
At the beginning of Part II the Duchess is summoned, to give 
advice concerning a hostile invasion of the Empress's native 
world. Such excellent counsel does she offer that the intruders 
are completely routed by a complicated mechanism of fishes, 
birds, submarine vessels, and the wondrous fire-stone which is set 
aflame by water. The Duchess's spirit inhabited the Empress's 
soul during this expedition, after which the two friends held 
long and confidential dialogues. In reply to a query about 
her peculiar costumes, "the Duchess's Soul answered, she 
confessed that it was extravagant, and beyond what was usual 
and ordinary ; but yet her ambition being such, that she would 
not be like others in anything if it were possible ; I endeavour, 
said she to be as singular as I can ; for it argues but a mean 
Nature to imitate others ; and though I do not love to be imi- 
tated if I can possibly avoid it ; yet rather than imitate others, 
I should chuse to be imitated by others ; for my nature is 
such, that I had rather appear worse in singularity than better 
in the Mode." 

The Emperor of the Blazing World builds an elaborate 
golden stable for a hundred horses, in copy of what Newcastle 
would do if he were rich, one side adorned with gems and 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 257 

the floor strewn with golden sand. He wants a theatre also, 
where the Duchess thinks her plays might be performed : 

The Wits of these present times condemned them as uncapable of 
being represented or acted, because they were not made up according 
to the Rules of Art ... it is the Art and Method of our Wits to de- 
spise all Descriptions of Wit, Humour, Actions and Fortunes that are 
without such Artificial Rules . . . my Playes may be acted in your 
Blazing-World when they cannot be acted in the Blinking-World 
of Wit. 

Finally the Duchess's soul does tear itself away from her 
friends and goes back to dwell in its body. There is nothing 
more nafve in this whole ingenuous fancy than the bit of real 
life to which we are treated at the conclusion of her spiritual 
adventures. Newcastle had patiently to listen to his wife's 
endless romancing and to hear how he might possess some of 
the Emperor's excellent horses if only a passage to the Blaz- 
ing World could be discovered. With a touch of his cele- 
brated wit " the Duke smilingly answered her, That he was 
sorry there was no Passage between those two Worlds ; but 
said he, I have always found an Obstruction to my Good 
Fortunes." 

In an " Epilogue to the Reader " the Duchess proclaims the 
humbleness of her muse, for though she might have written 
of heroes and war, her themes are peace and " the figure of 
Honest Margaret Newcastle which now I would not change 
for all this terrestrial world." A new ruler must henceforth 
find a new kingdom, " for concerning the Philosophical World, 
I am Emperess of it myself ; and as for the Blazing World, 
it having an Emperess already who rules it with great wisdom 
and conduct which Emperess is my dear Platonick Friend." 
The feminine note in such writing is as unmistakable in the 
exaggerated fantasy as in the rambling and disconnected struc- 
ture, but it is a note we would not be without in literature any 



258 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

more than in every-day life. The Duchess took httle pains 
to arrange her fancies, to trim or to proportion them ; The 
Blazing World is made up of one episode after another, 
strung together in the most casual helter-skelter way, without 
beginning, middle, or end. To analyze the confused result 
would be well-nigh impossible ; we can only accept it as it 
stands and follow its winding course. Yet the exuberant 
imagination and absolute naturalness behind this lack of 
form produce a charm which many more perfect works of art 
are entirely without. The Duchess wrote what she felt and 
in this instance attained a high degree of success because the 
subject suited her method. Drama and science demand that 
ingenuity be curbed and material selected, but pure fancy 
knows no limitations. Doubtless The Blazing World would 
have been a more finished piece of literature had its author 
conformed somewhat to prescribed rules, but then it would in 
large measure have wanted that delightful spontaneity which 
is the very essence of its particular distinction. 

The Duchess had unfriendly critics in her own day, as her 
apologies show, but certainly no author ever enjoyed more 
extravagant praise while still alive. Her rank must have been 
an important factor in this eulogy, for there is no evidence 
that any of her books except the Life achieved an extensive 
audience. On the contrary, they were apparently printed at 
their writer's instigation and distributed among various indi- 
viduals or institutions as presentation copies,^ for in the 1676 
volume of Letters atid Poems in Honotir of the Lncomparable 
Prijicess, Margaret, Dutchess of Nezvcastle"^ are to be found 

1 Her books may have been "the nuisance of the time in which she lived," 
but it is not true that " she reaped little but ridicule." See Costello, Memoirs of 
Eminent Englishwomen, III, 211. 

2 There is also a 1678 publication Collection of Letters and Poems to the 
late Duke and Duchess of Newcastle. See Catalogue of the British Museum, and 
Wheatley's Evelyn, III, 395, n. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 259 

many epistles acknowledging such favors. The Universities of 
Leyden, Cambridge, and Oxford, the Colleges of St. John's, 
Trinity,! and Magdalen, render thanks to the Duchess for her 
gifts of Letters or Poems, the Life or Observations tipon Ex- 
perimental Philosophy. There are numerous personal letters, 
some of them from Kenelm Digby, Samuel Tuke, and a cer- 
tain Thomas Barlow (" a poor impertinent thing in Black," 
he calls himself), from Jasper Mayne, Joseph Glanvill,^ and 
Thomas Hobbes. The last named writes on February 9, 1661- 
1662, concerning the Playes : 

I have already read so much of it (in that Book which my Lord of 
Devonshire has) as to give your Excellence, an account of it thus far, 
That it is filled throughout with more and truer Idea's of Virtue and 
Honour than any Book of morality I have read. And if some Comique 
Writers, by conversation with ill People, have been able to present 
Vices upon the Stage, more ridiculously and immodestly by which 
they take their rabble, I reckon that amongst your Praises. 

On May 7, 1667, Walter Charleton mentions the great sums she 
has expended on printing and adds a questionable compliment, 
which the Duchess probably interpreted in the most favorable 
light. Her poetry is so facile, Charleton says, that "you do 
not always confine your Sense to Verse ; nor your Verses to 
Rhythme ; nor your Rhythme to the quantity and sounds of 
Sillables." The Duchess's errors could be pardoned, but it is 
plain that they were understood. 

These "Letters and Poems" were apparently collected by 
Newcastle after his wife's death, and among them he included 
any laudatory material that was procurable. Otherwise one could 

^ The master of Trinity in 1663, who wrote with such extreme adulation, 
was John Pearson, afterwards (1672) Bishop of Chester, the writer on the creed. 
See article on the Duchess in Biographia Britanuica, ed. Kippis, Vol. III. 

^ Glanvill has a book of Letters and Poems writteti and sent to Margaret, 
Duchess of Newcastle in Ashmole's library, according to Wood's Athenae, III, 
1252, n. No mention of it occurs in the Ashmolean Catalogue., however. 



26o THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

not account for the presence of three letters from Thomas 
Shadwell relative to his dedication of The Humourists, with 
an elegy on the Duchess's death from the same hand.^ This 
elaborate ode is very dull indeed, but the last stanza concerning 
Newcastle's grief may be cited to show how Shadwell comports 
himself when he deviates into verse : 

Oh what Expedient can there be 
Found to support his Magnanimity ! 
The best of Husbands, and the noblest Peer ; 

The best of Generals, best of subjects too. 
Whose Arts in Peace as well as War appear : 

He knows how to advise, and how to do ; 
His Prudence and his Courage might uphold 

The most decay'd and crippled State, 

And rescue it from the J awes of Fate : 
His Body, may, but Mind, can ne're be old. 
Him she has left, and from our sight is hurl'd 
And gloriously shines in the true Blazing World. 

Flecknoe's verses on the Duchess's closet find an unsigned place 
among these poems, while Sir George Etherege's contribution 
is the only link that connects him with the Cavendishes. After 
recounting our authoress's literary exploits, Etherege continues : 

This made the great New-Castle's Heart your prize ; 

Your Charming Soul, and your Victorious Eyes, 

Had only pow'r his Martial mind to tame. 

And raise in his Heroick Breast a Flame ; 

A Flame, which with his Courage still aspires. 

As if Immortal Fewel fed those Fires : 

This mighty Chief, and your great self made One, 

Together the same Race of Glory run ; 

Together on the Wings of Fame you move. 

Like yours his Virtue, and like his your Love. 

1 One panegyric Newcastle did not include was " To the Most Excellent 
Princesse The Dutchess of Newcastle. By H. J. of Grays Inne," published 1667, 
reprinted in the Bagford Ballads, II, 884-885. Another by Elias Ashmole is 
in the Ashmolean Library, according to the Catalogue, Col. 28, No. 185, and 
Col. 1270, No. 3; it begins "Here lyes wise, chast, hospitable, humble." 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 261 

Quite the best of all these tributes is an address " To the 
Glory of her Sex, the Most Illustrious Princess, the Lady 
Marchioness of New-Castle, upon her Most Admirable Works." 
Lengthy as it is, scarcely a verse lacks some spark of wit ex- 
pressed in well-turned phrase ; the single line, " Truth never 
was so naked, nor so dress'd," sums up the Duchess's work in 
very nearly her own spirit. Its author is not mentioned, but he 
seems to have been Francis Fane, for another copy of this poem 
is signed with his initials. ^ Whoever he was, his work is not 
wanting in keen insight nor in an evident desire to please : 

Now let enfranchiz'd Ladies learn to write, 

And not Paint white and red, but black, and white, 

Their Bodkins turn to Pens, to Lines their Locks, 

And let the Inkhorn be their Dressing-box : 

Since, Madam, you have Scal'd the walls of Fame, 

And made a Breach where never Female came, 

Had men no Wit, or had the World no Books, 

Yet here 's enough to please the curious looks 

Of Every Reader : such a General Strain, 

Would reinstruct the School-boy-world again. 

Philosophers and Poets were of old 

The two great Lights, that humane minds control'd ; 

The one t' adorn, the other to explain, 

Thus Learnings Empire then was cut in twain. 

But Universal Wit and Reason joyn's 

To make you Queen : nor can your sacred Lines 

Without a Paradox be well express'd, 

Truth never was so naked, nor so dress'd. 

Majestick Quill ! that keeps our Minds in Awe, 

For Reasons Kingdom knows no Salique Law, 

Or if that Law was ever fram'd 'twas then 

When Woman held the Distaff not the Pen. 

The Court, the City, Schools and Camp agree 

Welbeck to make an University, 

Of Wit and Honour, which has been the Stage, 

Since 't was your Lords the Heroe of this Age ; 

1 Hist. Mss. Comm., lo Rep., App. IV, p. 20. 



262 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Whose Noble Soul is Steward to great Parts, 
And do's dispence his Reasons and his Arts, 
His Wit and Power, his Greatness, and his Sense, 
With as much Freedom and Magnificence, 
As when our English Jove became his Guest 
And did receive a more than Humane Feast. 
With Arts of Wit, he mixes those of Force 
And Pegasus is his old Manag'd Horse. 
No wonder he excells all other Men ; 
They but Nine Muses had, and he has Ten. 
A Lady whose Immortal Pen transferrs 
To our Sex Shame and Envy, Fame to hers ; 
Whose Genius traces Wit through all her wayes 
In abstruse Notions, Poems and in Playes. 
Then why should we the mouldy Records keep 
Of Plautus, or disturb Ben Johnson's Sleep? 
The Silent Womati Famous heretofore 
Has been, but now the Writing Lady more. 

Still, despite this contemporary adulation, a fair-minded 

critic can grant Margaret Cavendish's work no very excessive 

praise. Yet he would not, with Pope, set it in the Dunce's 

library, where, 

Here swells the shelf with Ogilby the great. 

There stamp'd with arms, Newcastle shines complete.^ 

The Duchess's purpose was too sincere and too unusual for 
her writings to be completely discounted, even if their net 
accomplishment seems rather slight. Such an enormous amount 
of material as they contain also tends to minimize their value, 
but that accidental consideration must be dismissed. If the 
Duchess was to write at all, she must needs write without re- 
straint. No rules of art, no other authors influenced her muse, 
which soared wherever impulse directed it. "She thought with- 
out system and set down everything she thought,"^ one com- 
mentator says, and another remarks upon her ''cacoetkes 

1 Dunciad, I, lines 141-142. 

* Jenkins in The Cavalier and his Lady, p. 8. 



THE WRITINGS OF THE DUCHESS 263 

scribendV ^ Yet it is this incurable desire to write which gives 
her a unique position in English literature and at the same 
time causes her most palpable defects. The good goes hand 
in hand with the bad, so that we cannot differentiate them 
but must accept both inextricably entangled. One must read 
the Duchess's philosophical books, her plays, orations, and 
olios, by the side of her poems, '" feigned stories," " Sociable 
Letters," and "Blazing Worlds," in order to understand appre- 
ciatively the mental processes that produced one of our first 
English authoresses. 

The Duchess's sex not only emphasizes her importance in 
literary history but strongly affects her actual writings as well. 
Women have always been less able than men to confine their 
feelings within the narrow limits required by an art form ; they 
will not allow sufficient tranquillity in which to recollect their 
emotion. Accordingly Margaret Cavendish puts no check upon 
her imagination but permits it quite to surpass the bounds of 
reason. In this connection it is instructive to contrast her 
work with that of John Donne, with whose poetry she was 
herself acquainted.^ Dr. Donne's passionate nature twisted and 
contorted his medium of expression, but it never let him for- 
get our material existence. The Duchess, however, entirely 
transcends mere flesh and blood, passing into a terra incognita 
of her own. Her fancy was so far removed from things of 
this world that when she gave it full swing the result proved 
confusing to readers and detrimental to aesthetic excellence. 
Moreover the quality of this romancing was not fervent enough 
to sweep the average citizen off his feet, although a certain in- 
herent and dignified charm can be unmistakably felt through it 



^ Retrospective Review, 1853, I, 332. 

^ She quotes lines 35-36 of The Storm in The Lady Contemplation, Part II, 
Act II, scene ix, and mentions him also in " Of Light and Sight" from Poems 
and Fancies. 



264 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

all. Indeed, there is nothing more attractive in the Duchess's 
books than that absolute ingenuousness which characterizes 
them. Their lack of artistic regulation may be criticized ; nay, 
it must be condemned ; but in compensation we gain an almost 
unparalleled naturalness. Whatever technical faults appear in 
these volumes and however far actual life may be absent from 
them, their sincerity remains indisputable. Certainly they are 
not great literature, but at least they are imaginative and 
genuine. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE DUCHESS HERSELF 
I 

MARGARET LUCAS (1623-1645) 

Apart from a purely historical importance, the Duchess's 
writings must depend for their chief interest upon the singular 
clarity with which they depict their author. One cannot read 
even the Life, most normal of all her works, without realizing 
that here is an astonishing and unusual personality, while The 
Blazing World convinces us that its creator was, on one occa- 
sion at least, dangerously far from sanity. Indeed the Duchess 
has been long known as "' Mad Madge of Newcastle," ^ and 
there are grounds for approving this epithet. " Great Wits are 
sure to Madness near alli'd," in this case means that without 
our authoress's peculiarities of character, the world would have 
been without her eccentricities of literary production. In the 
seventeenth century it required some remarkably strong stimu- 
lus for a woman of the upper classes to undertake writing as 
a serious occupation, and this impetus was furnished the 
Duchess by her overactive, unrestrained imagination. Modern 
scientists tell us that insanity is the overdevelopment of one 
side in an individual at the expense of his other constituent 
parts, and in this sense the Duchess was most certainly in- 
sane. Hers was a warped and irregular growth, due largely 
no doubt to certain inborn tendencies and in part to her 
early surroundings. 

1 Lower in 1872 mentions this " nickname which her jealous (female?) con- 
temporaries gave her," p. ix, but cites no evidence to prove his assertion. 

265 



266 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

On neither point could better evidence be procured than 
from the lady herself, who has been pleased to give us A 
True Relation of my Birth, Breeding and Life. Moreover 
she is such a nai've writer that only the most suspicious person 
can refuse to grant her a complete suspension of disbelief. 
Often, to be sure, her statements are not so significant as the 
fact that she does set them down, but in that case her veracity 
is only emphasized by her ingenuous sincerity. The True Rela- 
tion occurs as Book XI of Nature s Pictures, and is described 
on the title-page as " a true story at the latter end, wherein 
there is no feignings." Its unique importance was early recog- 
nized, so that it has been often reprinted, generally in con- 
nection with the Life, but sometimes by itself, as in Edward 
Jenkins's garbled selections. The Cavalier and his Lady, and 
by Sir Egerton Brydges at his private press at Lee Priory, 
Kent.i The date of this latter, the first modern edition, was 
1 8 14, but Sir Egerton deserves more credit for resurrecting 
the document than for his presentation of it, which was un- 
scholarly and slipshod. In 1872 Lower published a careful 
transcription, while Firth has furnished the definitive and 
most convenient form of this autobiography. Its original ap- 
pearance was in 1656, four years before Newcastle returned 
to England, and in consequence the Duchess's account of her 
life is far from complete. Her style, too, was never more 
rambling or disconnected than in this work, so that one need 
not expect to find it the historical document which the life of 
her husband most certainly is. On the other hand, A True 
Relation has not the errors in fact and judgment of her more 
elaborate composition, nor is a personal memoir subject to 
such strict qualifications as are demanded in authoritative biog- 
raphy. This makes the Duchess's account of prime impor- 
tance to us, for, having already discussed the dates and figures 

1 In 1813 Brydges had published Selected Poems by the Duchess. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 267 

of her life, we must now seek further Hght upon what manner 
of person she was. But this information is more difficult to 
sift than to acquire. 

The Duchess's father ^ dying in her early years, his widow 
was left to take charge of their large family, which she did 
with eminent success. This lady is described by her daughter 
in such affectionate terms as to reflect credit alike upon parent 
and child. Madam Lucas lived to see the ruin of her fortunes 
by war, "and then died, having lived a widow many years; 
for she never forgot my father so as to marry again. Indeed, 
he remained so lively in her memory, and her grief was so 
lasting, as she never mentioned his name, though she spoke 
often of him, but love and grief caused tears to flow, and 
tender sighs to rise, mourning in sad complaints. She made 
her house her cloister, inclosing herself, as it were, therein, 
for she seldom went abroad, unless to church. . . . She 
was of a grave behaviour, and had such a majestic grandeur, 
as it were continually hung about her, that it would strike a 
kind of awe to the beholders, and command respect from the 
rudest. . . . Also her beauty was beyond the ruin of time, 
for she had a well-favoured loveliness in her face, a pleasing 
sweetness in her countenance, and a well-tempered com- 
plexion, as neither too red nor too pale, even to her dying 
day, although in years. And by her dying, one might think 
death was enamoured with her, for he embraced her in a sleep, 
and so gently, as if he were afraid to hurt her. . . . Like- 
wise my mother was a good mistriss to her servants, taking 
care of her servants in their sickness, not sparing any cost 
she was able to bestow for their recovery : neither did she 
exact more from them in their health than what they with ease 
or rather like pastime could do. She would freely pardon a 

^ He killed a certain Mr. Brooks in a duel, and was exiled until after 
James I's accession. See Firth, pp- 155-156. 



268 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

fault, and forget an injury, yet sometimes she would be angry ; 
but never with her children, the sight of them would pacify 
her ; neither would she be angry with others but when she had 
cause, as negligent or knavish servants, that would lavishly or 
unnecessarily waste, or subtly and thievishly steal. And though 
she would often complain that her family was too great for her 
weak management, and often pressed my brother to take it upon 
him, yet I observed she took a pleasure, and some little pride, 
in the governing thereof. She was very skilful in leases, and 
setting of lands, and court keeping, ordering of stewards, and 
the like affairs. Also I observed that my mother nor brothers, 
before these wars, had never any lawsuits, but what an attorney 
despatched in a term with small cost, but if they had it was 
more than I knew of. But, as I said, my mother lived to see the 
ruin of her children, in which was her ruin, and then died." ^ 
This is the portrait of a quiet, refined housewife (" femme 
essentielle " M. Montegut calls it 2), and it is also a portrait of 
the Duchess with her genius omitted. Let us not neglect to 
notice that Margaret Cavendish was primarily a woman, and 
only, after that, an artist : 

For had my brains as many fancies in 't 
To fill the world, I 'd put them all in print ; 
No matter whether they be well or ill exprest, 
My will IS done, and that please wofnefi best? 

Her feminine characteristics come out unmistakably in the 
account of her childhood : ^ 

As for my breeding, it was according to my birth, and the nature 
of my sex ; for my birth was lost in my breeding. For as my sisters 
was or had been bred, so was I in plenty, or rather with superfluity. 

1 Firth, pp. 163-165. M. Montegut writes, " Le portrait que trace sa fille de 
cette prude veuve est celui d'une mistress Peyser aristocratique," p. 202. 

- P. 226. 

3 At the close of Philosophical Fancies. See Walpole's Catalogue, ed. Park, 
111,154. 4 Firth, pp. 156-157. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 269 

Likewise we were bred virtuously, modestly, civilly, honourably, and 
on honest principles. ... As for our garments, my mother did not 
only delight to see us neat and cleanly, fine and gay, but rich and 
costly ; maintaining us to the height of her estate, but not beyond it. 
For we were so far from being in debt, before these wars, as we were 
rather beforehand with the world ; buying all with ready money, not 
on the score. For although after my father's death the estate was 
divided between my mother and her sons, paying such a sum of money 
for portions to her daughters, either at the day of their marriage, or 
when they should come to age ; yet by reason she and her children 
agreed with a mutual consent, all their affairs were managed so well, 
as she lived not in a much lower condition than when my father lived. 
'Tis true, my mother might have increased her daughters' portions by 
a thrifty sparing, yet she chose to bestow it on our breeding, honest 
pleasures, and harmless delights, out of an opinion, that if she bred 
us with needy necessity, it might chance to create in us sharking quali- 
ties, mean thoughts and base actions, which she knew my father, as 
well as herself, did abhor. Likewise we were bred tenderly for my 
mother naturally did strive, to please and delight her children, not to 
cross or torment them, terrifying them with threats or lashing them 
with slavish whips ; but instead of threats, reason was to persuade us, 
and instead of lashes, the deformities of vice was discovered, and the 
graces and virtues were presented unto us. 

One way in which the graces were presented to these chil- 
dren was by having servants treat them with the deference 
due their position : ^ 

Also we were bred with respectful attendance, every one being 
severally waited upon, and all her servants in general used the same 
respect to her children (even those that were very young) as they did 
to herself ; for she suffered not her servants, either to be rude before 
us, or to domineer over us, which all vulgar servants are apt, and oft- 
times which some have leave to do. Likewise she never suffered the 
vulgar serving-men to be in the nursery among the nursemaids, lest 
their rude love-making might do unseemly actions, or speak unhand- 
some words in the presence of her children, knowing that youth is apt 
to take infection by ill examples, having not the reason of distinguish- 
ing good from bad. Neither were we suffered to have any familiarity 

1 Firth, pp. 157-158. 



270 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

with the vulgar servants, or conversation : yet caused us to demean 
ourselves with an humble civility towards them, as they with a dutiful 
respect to us. Not because they were servants were we so reserved ; 
for many noble persons are forced to serve through necessity ; but by 
reason the vulgar sort of servants are as ill-bred as meanly born, giv- 
ing children ill examples and worse counsel. As for tutors, although 
we had for all sorts of virtues,^ as singing, dancing, playing or music, 
reading, writing,'^ working and the like, yet we were not kept strictly 
thereto, they were rather for formality than benefit; for my mother 
cared not so much for our dancing and fiddling, singing and prating 
of several languages, as that we should be bred virtuously, modestly, 
civilly, honourably, and on honest principles. 

The result of this upbringing was a model and unusually 
homogeneous family. Of the " eight children, three sons and 
five daughters, there was not anyone crooked, or any ways 
deformed, neither were they dwarfish, or of a giant-like stature, 
but every ways proportionable ; likewise well-featured, clear 
complexions, brown hairs (but some lighter than others), sound 
teeth, sweet breaths, plain speeches, tunable voices (I mean 
not so much to sing as in speaking, as not stuttering, nor 
wharling in the throat, or speaking through the nose, or 
hoarsely, unless they had a cold, or squeakingly, which impedi- 
ments many have) : neither were their voices of too low a 
strain, or too high, but their notes and words were tunable 
and timely." ^ Margaret's own beauty seems to have been an 
indisputable fact, for we have it attested by such contemporary 
recorders as Pepys^ and Mrs. Katherine Philips.^ This fact 
may help to explain Newcastle's choice of a second wife or the 
amount of wonder that her bashfulness caused at court, but it 

1 Lower reads " virtuosos," according to a written correction in one copy 
of the book. 

^ Letter CLXXV in CCXI Sociable Letters tells us that she " never went to 
school, but only Learn'd to Read and Write at Home, Taught by an Antient 
Decayed Gentlewoman, whom my Mother kept for that Purpose." 

3 Firth, p. 164. 

* Pepys's Diary, entry for April 26, 1667. ^ Poems, 1667, p. 142. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 



271 



was not a determining factor in her life and it had no effect 
upon her spiritual growth. 

Of her brothers, the Duchess writes : ^ 

Their practice was, when they met together, to exercise themselves 
with fencing, wrestling, shooting, and such like exercises, for I observed 
they did seldom hawk or hunt, and very seldom or never dance, or 
play on music, saying it was too effeminate for masculine spirits. 
Neither had they skill, or did use to play, for aught I could hear, at 
cards or dice, or the like games, nor given to any vice, as I did know, 
unless to love a mistress were a crime, not that I knew any they had, 
but what report did say, and usually reports are false, at least exceed 
the truth. As for the pastime of my sisters when they were in the 
country, it was to read, work, walk and discourse with each other. 
For though two of my three brothers were married . . . likewise three 
of my four sisters ... yet most of them lived with my mother, espe- 
cially when she was at her country-house, living most commonly at 
London half the year, which is the metropolitan city of England. But 
when they were at London, they were dispersed into several houses 
of their own, yet for the most part they met every day, feasting each 
other like Job's children. 

But to rehearse their recreations. Their customs were in winter 
time to go sometimes to plays, or to ride in their coaches about the 
streets to see the concourse and recourse of people ; and in the spring 
time to visit the Spring Garden, Hyde Park, and the like places ; and 
some times they would have music, and sup in barges upon the water. 
These harmless recreations they would pass their time away with ; for 
I observed they did seldom make visits nor went abroad with strangers 
in their company, but only themselves in a flock together, agreeing so 
well that there seemed but one mind amongst them. And not only 
my own brothers and sisters agreed so, but my brothers and sisters in 
law, and their children, although but young, had the like agreeable 
natures and affectionate dispositions. For to my best remembrance 
I do not know that ever they did fall out, or had any angry or unkind 
disputes. Likewise, I did observe that my sisters were so far from 
mingling themselves with any other company, that they had no familiar 
conversation or intimate acquaintance with the families to which each 
other were linked to by marriage, the family of the one being as great 
strangers to the rest of my brothers and sisters as the family of the 
other. 

1 Firth, pp. 1 59-161. 



2/2 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

And in another place : ^ 

My brothers and sisters were for the most part serious and staid in 
their actions, not given to sport or play, nor dance about, whose com- 
pany I keeping, made me so too. But I observed that although their 
actions were staid, yet they would be very merry amongst themselves, 
delighting in each other's company : also they would in their discourse 
express the general actions of the world, judging, condemning, approv- 
ing, commending, as they thought good, and with those that were 
innocently harmless, they would make themselves merry therewith. 

Truly this was a narrow and circumscribed existence, which 
offered few opportunities for a wider experience in diverse 
sides of life. Small wonder that Margaret Lucas desired to 
become a maid of honour at Henrietta Maria's court, and 
small wonder, too, that once there, she was unable to fit into 
her new environment. 

Concerning her own characteristics the Duchess has this 
further to say:^ 

I am naturally bashful, not that I am ashamed of my mind or body, 
my birth or breeding, my actions or fortunes, for my bashfulness is 
my nature, not for any crime, and though I have strived and reasoned 
with myself, yet that which is inbred I find is difficult to root out. 
But I do not find that my bashfulness is concerned ■with the qualities 
of the persons, but the number ; for were I to enter amongst a com- 
pany of Lazaruses, I should be as much out of countenance as if they 
were all Caesars or Alexanders, Cleopatras or Queen Didos. Neither 
do I find my bashfulness riseth so often in blushes, as contracts my 
spirits to a chill paleness. But the best of it is, most commonly it soon 
vanisheth away, and many times before it can be perceived ; and the 
more foolish or unworthy I conceive the company to be, the worse I 
am, and the best remedy I ever found was, is to persuade myself that 
all those persons I meet are wise and virtuous. 

That must have been a hard task at court, where other com- 
plications made it difficult for the girl. As long as Henrietta 
Maria was at Oxford, matters went fairly well, for most of the 

1 Firth, pp. 174-175. 2 Ibid., pp. 168-169. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 273 

Lucases were there too ; but when the Queen fled to France 
Margaret was thrown upon her own resources. She had 
always before been supported by family spirit, but now that 
prop was gone and the maid of honor had not been trained 
to do without it. '" Besides," she says,i " I had heard that 
the world was apt to lay aspersions even on the innocent, for 
which I durst neither look up with my eyes, nor speak, nor 
be anyway sociable, insomuch as I was thought a natural fool." 
We have seen that in her plays are certain scenes and descrip- 
tions which may specifically mirror incidents during this 
period,^ when, instead of improving as time went on, she 
continually withdrew farther into her shell. " I never heeded 
what was said or practised, but just what belonged to my loyal 
duty, and my own honest reputation. And, indeed, I was 
so afraid to dishonour my friends and family by my indis- 
creet actions, that I rather chose to be accounted a fool 
than to be thought rude or wanton. In truth, my bashful- 
ness and fears made me repent my going from home to 
see the world abroad, and much I did desire to return to 
my mother again, or to my sister Pye, with whom I often 
lived when she was in London, and loved with a supernat- 
ural affection." ^ Her mother would not permit Margaret to 
return ; hence she stayed on at court, getting deeper and 
deeper into a solitary and contemplative life with every day 
which passed over her head. 

Within two years this difiicult situation was resolved by the 
appearance of Newcastle as a serious lover. Evidently the 



1 Firth, p. 161. 

2 Compare also the description of a young, inexperienced girl at court in 
Natures Picture, p. 339 : "When the Company was called to sit down, that the 
Masque might be represented, every one was placed by their Friends or else 
they placed themselves. But she, being unaccustomed to those meetings, knew 
not how to dispose of herself . . . and therefore she stood still." 

8 Firth, pp. 161-162. 



274 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

exiled and widowed Marquis had made up his mind to marry 
some young girl, not only that he might have further issue, 
as we have seen, but also because he " would choose such 
a wife as he might bring to his own humours, and not such 
a one as was wedded to self-conceit, or one that had been 
tempered to the humours of another ; for which he wooed me 
for his wife ; and though I did dread marriage, and shunned 
men's company as much as I could, yet I could not nor had 
not the power to refuse him, by reason my affections were 
fixed on him, and he was the only person I ever was in love 
with. Neither was I ashamed to own it, but gloried therein. 
For it was not amorous love (I never was infected therewith, 
it is a disease, or a passion, or both, I only know by relation, 
not by experience), neither could title, wealth, power or person 
entice me to love. But my love was honest and honourable, 
being placed upon merit, which affection joyed at the fame of 
his worth, pleased with delight in his wit, proud of the respects 
he used to me, and triumphing in the affections he professed 
for me, which affections he hath confirmed to me by a deed 
of time, sealed by constancy, and assigned by an unalterable 
decree of his promise, which makes me happy in despite of 
Fortune's frowns." ^ Even here the Duchess is probably 
telling the truth, for a girl of twenty does not often feel 
" amorous love " towards a man thirty years her senior.^ A 
combination of respect for Newcastle's position, flattery at his 
proposals, and — what she does not state — the desire to 
escape from an uncongenial atmosphere, must have been the 
causes for her agreeing to his proposals. If that is the case, 
one can very easily understand how in her plays the Duchess 
rails against passionate love but was herself a devoted wife. 

1 Firth, p. 162. 

^ M. Montegut, of course, supposes she was deceiving herself and that the 
affection was really " amour," p. 220. See also First Duke mid Duchess, p. 279. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 275 

The deep but platonic regard she felt for the Marquis ap- 
pears first in the twenty-one letters written to him while their 
engagement was yet a secret and now preserved at Welbeck 
Abbey. They were privately reprinted in 1909 as pages 5-18 
of Letters Written by Charles Lamb's "^^ Princely Womaji, the 
Thrice Noble Margaret Newcastle'' to her Husba^id, etc. The 
editor, Richard William Goulding, has retained the original 
spelling, which, although it presents some difficulties, adds 
greatly to the human interest of these documents. They are 
most valuable additions to our knowledge of the time and 
place, the events and persons concerned. No better account 
of petty, underhand bickerings at the exiled Stuart court is to 
be desired ; the intrigues of Newcastle's office-seeking are 
nobility itself compared with these malevolent attempts to pre- 
vent his marriage. The courtiers involved seem to have had 
no object beyond sheer love of mischief-making and lack of 
more important occupation. In their small detached group the 
day's gossip had become of cardinal interest, so that a middle- 
aged marquis's evident attentions to the young and bashful 
Margaret Lucas perforce raised something of a tempest. People 
began to talk and to torment the girl, hinting that her lover 
was proverbially inconstant. Henrietta Maria took offense be- 
cause she was kept in ignorance of the proceedings, while 
Newcastle's friends advised him against such a match as con- 
trary to his worldly advantage. Of all this we hear in Margaret's 
very first letter : 

I. My Lord, there is but on acsident which is death to mak me 
onhappy ether to my frindes or fame or your affection/ tho the last 
I prefer equall to the firest, but I fear others foresee we shall be 
unfortunat, tho we see it not our seleves, or elles ther would not 
be such paynes takeing to unty the knot of our affection. I must 
confes as you have had good frindes to counsell you, I have had the 

^ Goulding reads " affection " here and elsewhere, but that can hardly be 
correct. 



2/6 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

like to counsell me and tell me they heer of your profesions of afection 
to me ; which they bed me tak hed of, for you had ashured your selfe 
to many and was constant to non. I answred that my lord newcastle 
was to wis and to honest to ingag himself to many, and I hard the 
qeene should tak it ell that I ded not mak her aquainted befor I 
had resolued. I asked of what ; they sayed of my resolution to you. 
I asked if I should aquant the qeene with every complement that 
was bestod on me, with many other idell descouerses, which would be 
to long to wright, but pray doe not think I am inquisitiue after such 
friuolus talk, for I auoyd company to auoyd ther discours . . . they 
they [sic] that tould you of my mother has beter inteligenc then I, and 
shur, my lord, I threw not my self away when I gaue my self to you, 
for I neuer did any act worthy of prays before, but tis the natur of 
thos that can not be happy to dessir non elles should be so, as I shall 
be in haueing you, and will be so, in spit of all malles [malice], in being, 
my lord, your most humbell saruant, 

Margreat Lucas 
pray lay the fait of my wrighting to my pen. 

Soon the envious court charged Margaret with pursuing 

Newcastle : 

n. Me lord, I deed not dessir to deleuer up the intrest I had in you 
out of any inconstansee in me, but out of a considdarashoin of you ; 
me lord, me lord widdrington in his aduies has don as a nobell and a 
true affectshoinit frind would doe, yet I find I am infinnightly obleged 
to you whos afectshoins are aboue so powerfull a parswashon; my 
lord, if I doe not send to you, pray exques me, for if I doe, thay well 
say I parsue you for your affectshoin, for though I love you extremely 
well, yet I neuer feard my modesty so smalle as it would give me leue 
to court any man ; if you pies to ask the queen, I think it would be 
well understod. . . . 

The IVIarquis evidently replied to this epistle with strictures 
on IVlargaret's caution and coolness, for she next protests : 

III. My lord, pardon me if I have wright any thing that is not 
agreable but if I be carfull in things that may arise to the 
scandall of my repeta[t]ion is for fear of a refleckion, becaus I am 
yours, for though it is imposabll to keep out of the rech of a slander- 
ing toung from an enues parson, yet it tis in my power to hender 
them from the aduantag of a good ground to held ther descour[s]es on, 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 277 

for know, me lord, saintiarmanes [Saint Germains] is a place of much 
sencour [censure] and thinks I send to often ; me lord, I am sory you 
should think your loue so much transends mine, but suer it tis as un- 
comble [uncomely] to see a woman to kaind as to see a man to 
necklegant, but, me lord, I know you are a man of so much honour 
that I may safiy rule my actions by your directions. . . . 

Later she defends herself for not having been overcivil to 
Mr. Porter : 

IV. My lord, I think you haue a plot against my healt in sending 
so early, for I was forst to reed your leter be a candell light, for ther 
was not day enouf, but I had rather reed your leter then slep, and it 
doth me more good ; my lord, I hop you are not angare for my aduise 
of St. jermenes. I gaue it semply for the best; as for mr porter 
[Endymion ?] he was a stranger to me, for before I cam in to france I 
ded neuer see hem, or at least knew hem not to be mr porter, or my 
lord of newcastles frind, and, my lord, it is a custtom I obsarue that I 
neuer speek to any man before they addres them selues to me, nor to 
look so much in ther face as to inuit ther descours, and I hop I neuer 
was unseuell to any parson of what degree so euer, but to morrow the 
qeene comes to pares, they say, and then I hope to iusttifie my selfe 
to be, my lord, the most humbell saruant to you and your saruants 

Margreat Lucas 

if you cannot reed this leter, blam me not, for it was so early I was 
half asleep. 

Rumors spread that a secret marriage had already taken 
place, but the love-making still went on : 

V. My lord, there is non could be more sory to part with any thing 
thay loue so well as I doe you, but it was my affection to you, not to 
my self, as made that dissir to leue me. I consider non so much as to 
be desplesd or deslik any thing in you for any considdar[at]ion of what 
others can say, for that you think to be best shall pies me most ; . . . 
it was say to me you had declared your marreg to my lord Jermyn. I 
ansurred it was mor then I could doe, but heer is so many idell 
descor[s]es as it would werre [weary] me to tell them, and you to 
heer them. . . . 

VI. My lord, your uerses are more like you then your peckter, 
though it resembelles you uery much, but heer art has not bene so 



2/8 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

good a courtiar as it eues [used] to be ; my lord, the only blessing 
I wish for heer is I may desarue your afectshion which is onualabell 
[invaluable]. . . . 

When the Queen prepared to move from Saint Germains to 
Paris, Margaret seriously considered remaining behind, in order 
to silence gossiping tongues : 

VII. My lord, pray beleue I am not factious, espashally with you, 

for your commands shall be my law, but supos me now in a uery 

mallancolly humer, and that most off my contempaltions are fext on 

nothing but dessolutions, for I look apon this world as on a deth's 

head for mortefecation, for I see all things sublet to allteration and 

chaing, and our hopes as if they had taken opum. . . . my lord, I hear 

the qeen comes to parres this next week to the solemetes of prences 

mary's marrag, and I am in a dessput wither I should com with her, 

if I can get leue to stay ; my reson is becaus I think it will stop the 

scors [source ?] of ther descors of us when they see I doe not com, but 

I shall not doe any thing without your apprebation, as becomes your 

most humbl saruant n, ^ t 

Margreat Lucas 

My lord lett your eye ^ lemet your poetry. 

The case of Newcastle's picture which he had sent to Mar- 
garet got broken and subsequently caused serious complications : 

VIII. My lord, as grace drawes the sole to Hfe, so natuer, the pen- 
cell of god, has drawen your wit to the birth, as may be seene by your 
uerses, though the subget is to mene for your mues. ... I should be 
sory your afectshion should be as brokin as the case of your pickter ; 
it can be no ell oment [ill omen] of my part. I know not what it may 
be of yours. I hop it is not rauen like to give wor[n]ing of deth but 
I wish life only to be still, my lord, your umbell saruant, 

Margraet Lucas 

IX. My lord, I thank you for the toaken of loue you sent me, for I 
must confes I wanted it, wer it but to returne it on your self againe. 
... I am sory you should bed me keepe the ferses you sent, for it 
lookes as tho you thought I had flung thos away you sent before ; 
shurly I would keep them wer it with deficulty, and not to part with 
your muses so easely. . . . 

1 Goulding reads " ere," but " eye " in Hist. Mss. Comm. Hep. would be 
more natural. See Welbeck Mss., II, 134-137. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 279 

Masculine indifference to a woman's sensitive nature must 
have occasioned the following outburst : 

X. . . . my lord, I can beleue nothing but what is in honour of you, 
and I besech you to beleue that I have euer truth of my sid, tho 
naked ; therfor I neuer sayed any such thing as you menshioned in 
your letter of your peckter, nor neuer so much as shewed it to any 
cretur before yesterday that I gaue it to mend, but I find such 
enemenys that what soeuer can be for my disaduantag tho it haue but 
a resemblance of truth shall be declard. I hop my innocens will gard 
me, but suer, my lord, you haue many frindes, tho I haue many 
enemenys, or eles this is a counselling age, but if I shall preiudgice 
you in the affaires of the world, or in your iudgment of your bad 
choyce, consider and leue me, for I shall desir to life no longer then 
to see you happy ... it is not ushal to give the queen gloves or any 
thing eles, but, my lord, if you plese I will give them her. 

The unfeminine petulance in this last epistle did not pass 
unnoticed by Newcastle : 

XI. My lord, I am sory you haue metamorphosis my later and 
made that masculen that was efemenat ; my ambition is to be thought 
a modest woman and to leue the title of a gallante man to you . . . my 
lord, I am sory you haue such a defluction in your eies. I fear your 
wrighting may draw downe the rhum to much, tho I rejoyce at nothing 
mor then your letters, but insted of ioy they would bring me sadnes if 
I reseued then at such a disaduantag as to hurt them. . . . 

Presently peace was restored amid new protestations of affection : 

XII. My lord, I may uery well tak all your faltes to me, and yet be 
excusable for what is yours though not for my one [own], and tis no 
mercie to signe a pardon wher ther has bene no offence. I must con- 
fes my discression dede neuer aper so much as by my affection to loue 
a parson of so much woreth as your self, and yet, me lord, I must tell 
you I am not esly drawen to be in loue, for I ded neuer see any man 
but yourself that I could haue marred ... I neuer knew the nice of enuy, 
but I must haue a large proporsion of grace to arme me againest it, if 
I had a riuall in your affection, espeshially a nemeies [an enemy's ?] 
daughter, but wer I suer you should hat me as I hop you loue me, yet 
I well be, my lord, your must humbell saruant Margreat Lucas 
the queen takes no notes [notice] of any thing to me. 



280 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

XIII. My lord, I wounder not at my loue, but at yours, becaus the 
obiet of mine is good. I wish the obiet of yours wer so, yet me 
thinkes, you should loue nothing that wer ell, therfore if I haue any 
part of good tis your loue makes me so, but loued I nothing elles but 
you, I loue all that is good, and louing nothing aboue you I haue 
loues recompens ; my lord, I haue not had much expereanse of the 
world, yet I haue found it such as I could willinly part with it, but 
sence I knew you, I fear I shall loue it to well, becaus you are in it, 
and yet, me thinkes you are not in it, becaus you are not off it ; so I 
am both in it and out off it, a Strang inchantment. 

Nor with all this billing and cooing, was Margaret's worldly 
wisdom quiescent : 

XIV. My lord, it may be the triall, but it tis not true loue that 
absence or tim can demenesh, and I shall as sone forget all good as 
forget you ; me lord, you are a parson I may uery confeedently one 
[own] unless morell meret be a scandall, but, me lord, ther is a cuss- 
tumare law that must be sineed [signed] before I may lawfully call 
you husban ; if you are so passhonit as you say, and as I dar not 
belefe, yet it may be feared it cannot last long, for no extreme is 
parmenttary [permanent ? ]. 

XV. My lord, Wer I much sicker then I was, your kaind car [care] 
would cuer me. I am afeard it were an ambeshion to desir much of 
your loue, knowing my self of lettell dessart and yet, me thinks, it 
should be no sinne when the disir is good ; my lord, I sent a leter by 
my mayd ; I should be sory if you thought any line can come from 
you could be any others wayes then plesing to me, for that is only 
troublesom which is foolesh or emperttenent, with which you will 
neuer be taxed, nor your iudgment, unles now in choosing me, but 
being as your choyes makes it good, and so I shall ualu my self, which 
elles I should not. . . . 

Once more Margaret was disturbed by gossip, but Newcastle's 
protestations and her brother's influence smoothed the troubled 
waters : 

XVI. My lord, I haue rescued your leter which seems to satisfi 
mee aginest the noies of a cort, but when I rede your lordsp justifi- 
cashon under your one hand, I consider tis all the sattisfackshon can 
be giuen from a parson of honner, but now, hauing so great a ingong- 
shon [injunction] as is laid uppon mee in the nam of a brother, which 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 281 

has so great a powr, together with your lordps excues that hauing som 
ocashones of my one this week that will drae me to pares, of which I 
belefe your lordps may hear of, my lord, your humbell saruant M. L. 

XVII. My lord, ther is nothing will pleas me more then to be wher 
you are, and I begen to admire parres becaus you are in it ; my lord, 
the reson I had to consele [conceal] our affections was becaus I thought 
it would be agreabl to your dissir, but for my part I would not car if the 
trumppet of fame blue it throwout all the world, if the world wer ten 
times biger then it tis, for it would be an aduantag to me and my iudg- 
ment, and tho I am gelty of falts I may be ashamed to one, yet sence 
they are knowin in heuen I car not what can be knowin on earth. . . . 

Later Margaret grew so restive under a temporary illness that 
she was about to give up her entire romance. Henrietta 
Maria's displeasure and the antagonism of Newcastle's friends 
seemed to her almost insuperable obstacles : 

XVIII. My lord, I should be sory if your busnes be not acorden 
to your dissir, and pray, me lord, consider well wither marring me will 
not bring a troubl to your self, for, beleue me, I loue you to well to 
wesh you unhapy, and I had rather lose all hapness my selfe then you 
should be unforteenat, but if you be resoueled, what day soever you 
pies to send for me, I will com ; my lord, I know not what counsell 
to give conser[n]ing the quine, but I fear she will tak it ell if she be 
not mad aquanted with our intenshoins, and if you pies to right a leter 
to her and send it to me I will deleuer it that day you send for me. I 
think it no pollese to desples the quine, for though she will doe us no 
good, she may doe us harme. I haue sent my mayd about som busness, 
and she and my lady broune shall agre about the other things you speak 
of. I understand the parswashon of some againest your marreg, suer 
thay would not perswad you but for your good ; but if you think you 
haue don unaduisedly in promesis your self to me, send me word, and 
I will resing [resign] up all the intrist I have in you, though unwil- 
lingly. ... I haue bene uery ell this th[r]ee days, but health can not 
be so plesing to me as knowing my self to be, my lord, your most 
umbell saruant Margraet Lucas 

pray, me lord, doe not messtrust me, for telling of any thing that 
you haue commanded my silance in ; for though I am a woman, I 
can keep counsell, but I hau not power ofer the emmaganacions of 
others ; pray consider I haue enemyes. 



282 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

XIX. My lord, it can be in no bodyes powr to ues me ell if you ues 
me well. I have not ben with the qeen as yet be reson I am not well, 
but I heer she would haue me acknowledg my self in a fait and not 
she to be in any ... for the hindirance of our marrag, I hop it is not 
in ther power, I am sure they can not hinder me from louing, for I 
must be and will be and am, my lord, your admiring louing, honour- 
ing humbell and obedient saruant Margreat Lucas 

However, when the Queen once gave her consent, their 
marriage was soon planned : 

XX. My lord. My health will be according as I imaign [imagine] 
your affection, for I shall neuer be sicke so long as you loue me ; my 
lord, I hop the qeene and I am frindes ; she sayeth she will seme so 
at lest, but I finde, if it had bene in her power, she would a [have] 
crost us. I hard not of the leter, but she sayed to me she had it in 
wrightin that I should pray you not to mak her acquainted with our 
desines; my lord, sence our affections is poubleshed, it will not be 
for our honours to delay our marreg ; the qeene dos intend to com 
on mondday ; if not, I will send you word. 

XXI. My lord, I dessir nothing so much as the contineuanc[e] of 
your affection, for I think my self richer in haueing that then if I wer 
a monarch of all the world ; my lord, I hop the qeene and I shall be 
uery good frindes againe, and may be the beter for the deffarances 
we have had. ... I find to sattesfy the opinion we are not marred 
allredy, we must be marred by on of the prestes heer, which I think 
cousens,^ to be the fettes [fittest]; we shall not come tell mondday, if 
then, but there is no tim can allter my affection. 

So their true love (if it may be called so) was strong 
enough to weather all difficulties thrown in its way. The 
credit for their ultimate union rests largely with Margaret, 
because her position was much harder than Newcastle's. 
Alone and unaided, she had to endure the gibes of a mock- 
ing court, and, all things realized, she carried off a difficult 
situation with no small amount of grace. 

1 This is Dr. Cosin, the well-known priest, although Goulding reads it 
"consens" and annotates it as "consent." See Welbeck Mss., II, 137, for 
the correction. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 283 

II 
THE MARCHIONESS OF NEWCASTLE (1645-1664) 

Once wedded, Margaret Cavendish enjoyed a more peaceful, 
leisurely, but uninteresting life. This latter consideration, how- 
ever, did not cause her a moment's uneasiness. She was in- 
tensely relieved to be out of the court circle, and one may 
imagine that her delight upon leaving Paris was even greater. 
Yet time must have hung heavy upon her hands after the ex- 
citement of existence at Saint Germains. Up to this period 
she had never lived much alone, for the Lucas family with its 
various connections had completely filled her girlhood. Now 
the new Marchioness was thrown almost exclusively upon her 
noble lord's society, but he, of course, could not always be 
with his wife. Moreover, she had undergone such an unfor- 
tunate experience as maid of honor that a marked aversion to 
strangers characterized all her subsequent history ; this atti- 
tude necessarily limited her outlook and occupation, especially 
as there were no children to bring up nor any very arduous 
household cares to sustain. The management of some few 
servants ^ and of Newcastle's precarious finances must have 
fallen to his wife, but this task she would easily accomplish. 
Her mother, it will be remembered, was adept in such mat- 
ters, so that the daughter probably inherited similar ability ; 
at least the minute figuring and computing of Cavendish's 
losses in his Life show that she fully comprehended the 
value of money. The Marquis, on the contrary, was far too 
casual ever to take any great interest in mundane details. 

1 In the more prosperous times that succeeded the Duchess writes : " I 
seldom take any servants, or turn them away, for I have an Under-officer as 
my Lieutenant-General, which is the Governess of my House, & she receives 
my General Orders, and Executes the Particular Households Affairs." — 
CCXI Sociable Letters, Letter CLXXIX. 



284 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Spending was a necessity for him, and procuring the where- 
withal only an unmitigated nuisance. He had never learned 
that economy was possible, while Margaret had been bred in 
a frugal, well-ordered establishment, so that the subsequent 
improvement in their affairs was no doubt partly due to her 
careful management. Still these activities could not have 
occupied a large share of her time, and she must have passed 
many idle hours during that period. 

It was only natural, then, that the Marchioness should 
continue to develop her imagination, which had been some- 
what awakened by the spiritual solitude she had endured at 
court. Also this meditative habit was a decided source of 
self-satisfaction for her, as it offered certain opportunities that 
were a closed door to the uninitiated. When, in addition, 
the joy of written composition was discovered,^ our authoress's 
cup of happiness was full, for she had found a way to occupy 
herself. The only wonder is that this fanciful vein should 
have existed alongside of a marked practicality, although these 
two seeming opposites may have been but heightened mani- 
festations of that petty materialism and lofty spirituality which 
are so often associated in feminine emotionalism. Margaret 
Cavendish's genius brought about an excessive development 
of this paradox, but the phenomena differ scarcely at all in 
fundamentals. As time went on, however, the fantastic side 
gained increasing sway over the human, until her normality 
was gradually reduced to a subservient position. This desire 
to write having once become established, she could not resist 
setting down her conceptions and contemplations. Each day 
she threw continued emphasis upon the strangeness in her 
personality by devoting less and less time to the ordinary 
relationships of life. 

1 The continental influence of literary ladies and the Duchess's own early 
attempts at writing made such a discovery almost inevitable. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 285 

A True Relation admits this but does not make clear its 
full significance. In a singularly disjointed passage the 
authoress writes : ^ 

For I being of a lazy nature, and not of an active disposition, as some 
are that love to journey from town to town, from house to house, 
delighting in variety of company, making still one where the greatest 
number is — likewise in playing at cards, or any other games, in 
which I neither have practised, nor have I any skill therein : — as for 
dancing, although it be a graceful art, and becometh unmarried per- 
sons well, yet for those that are married, it is too light an action, dis- 
agreeing with the gravity thereof — and for revelling, I am of too 
dull a nature to make one in a merry society — as for feasting, it 
would neither agree with my humour or constitution, for my diet is 
for the most part sparing, as a little boiled chicken, or the like, my 
drink most commonly water ; for though I have an indifferent good 
appetite, yet I do often fast, out of an opinion that if I should eat 
much, and exercise little, which I do, only walking a slow pace in my 
chamber, whilst my thoughts run apace in my brain, so that the 
motions of my mind hinders the active exercises of my body; for 
should I dance or run, or walk apace, I should dance my thoughts 
out of measure, run my fancies out of breath, and tread out the feet 
of my numbers. But because I would not bury myself quite from the 
sight of the world, I go sometimes abroad, seldom to visit, but only 
in my coach about the town, or about some of the streets, which we 
call here a tour, . . . which most cities of note in Europe for all I can 
hear, hath such like recreations for the effeminate sex, although for 
my part I had rather sit at home and write, or walk, as I said, in my 
chamber and contemplate ; but I hold necessary sometimes to appear 
abroad, besides I do find, that several objects do bring new materials 
for my thoughts and fancies to build upon. 

There is something of the primitive artist in this stimulus 
from exterior perception, as is emphasized when the Duchess 
describes her own methods of composition : ^ 

When I am writing any sad feigned stories, or serious humours, or 
melancholy passions, I am forced many times to express them with 
the tongue before I can write them with the pen, by reason those 

1 Firth, pp. 172-173. 2 Ibid., p. 172 



286 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

thoughts that are sad, serious, and melancholy are apt to contract, 
and to draw too much back, which oppression doth as it were over- 
power or smother the conception in the brain. But when some of 
those thoughts are sent out in words, they give the rest more liberty 
to place themselves in a more methodical order, marching more regu- 
larly with my pen on the ground of white paper ; but my letters seem 
rather a ragged rout than a well-armed body, for the brain being 
quicker in creating than the hand in writing or the memory in retain- 
ing, many fancies are lost, by reason they oft times outrun the pen, 
where I, to keep speed in the race, write so fast as I stay not so long 
as to write my letters plain, insomuch as some have taken my hand- 
writing for some strange character, and being accustomed so to do, I 
cannot now write very plain, when I strive to write my best ; indeed 
my ordinary handwriting is so bad as few can read it, so as to write 
it fair for the press; but however, that little wit I have, it delights 
me to scribble it out, and disperse it about. For I being addicted 
from my childhood to contemplation rather than conversation, to soli- 
tariness rather than society, to melancholy rather than mirth, to write 
with the pen than to work with the needle, passing my time with 
harmless fancies, their company being pleasing, their conversation 
innocent . . . my only trouble is, lest my brain should grow barren, 
or that the root of my fancies should become insipid, withering into 
a dull stupidity for want of maturing subjects to write on. 

As the Duchess's Hterary labors became greater and as in 
time her husband's fortunes mended, she obtained outside 
assistance in the mechanics of writing. For instance,^ "' she 
was of a generous turn of mind, and kept a great many young 
ladies about her person, who occasionally wrote what she 
dictated. Some of them slept in a room, contiguous to that 
in which her Grace lay, and were ready, at the call of her 
bell, to rise any hour of the night, to write down her concep- 
tions, lest they should escape her memory. The young ladies, 
no doubt often dreaded her Grace's conceptions, which were 

1 Gibber's Lives of the Poets, II, 164. " Her restless spirit," writes Jusserand 
apropos of this passage, " was in some manner anticipating unawares another 
great writer, namely Pope." — The English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare, 
1895, p. 381. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 287 

frequent." A more pungent anecdote of the same sort rests 
on a less secure foundation.^ " So fond," says Dr. Lort, "was 
her grace of these conceptions, and so careful lest they should 
be still-born, that I have heard or read somewhere, that her 
servant John Rolleston, the duke's secretary, (whose name I 
think is mentioned by her with much condescension and affec- 
tion in her dedication of the duke's life to the duke) was 
ordered to lie in a truckle-bed in a closet within her grace's 
bed chamber, and whenever at any time she gave the summons 
by calling out ' JOHN, I conceive,' poor John was to get up, 
and commit to writing the offspring of his mistress's reveries." 
This story by itself would certainly lend color to any theory 
disputing the Duchess's sanity. It is not, however, well- 
authenticated and, if it were, must be considered in its proper 
connection with other events. There need not be the slightest 
doubt that in later life our authoress had become so peculiar 
as to cause the growth of unreliable material concerning her 
habits. That was the inevitable result of plunging into realms 
of imagination and leaving behind the more solid earth. 

We have already seen what an extraordinary amount of work 
the Duchess published, besides which she is supposed to have 
written three folio manuscripts of poems, two of them being 
at one time in Mr. Thomas Richardson's library and the other 
in Bishop Willis's.^ Yet not content with so much literary 
production, " I did many times not peruse the copies that 
were transcribed, lest they should disturb my following con- 
ceptions";^ and "my fancy is quicker than the pen with 
which I write, insomuch as it is many times lost through the 
slowness of my hand, and yet I write so fast, as I stay not so 
long as to make perfect letters." * Indeed she set such store 

^ Walpole's Catalogue, ed. Park, 1806, III, 190, n. 

2 Ballard's Memoirs of British Ladies, p. 213. 

3 Firth, p. xxxvii. * Ibid., p. 154. 



288 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

by her fancies, " as I neglect my health, for it is as great a 
grief to leave their society as a joy to be there in their com- 
pany." 1 Medical opinion also felt that the Duchess was likely 
to injure her physical well-being, for Sir Theodore Mayerne, 
the celebrated doctor,'^ wrote Newcastle that an " occupation in 
writing bookes with a sedentary life is absolutely bad for her 
health, and if she will be a philosopher, I could wish her to be 
a peripatetick."^ As this condition of ill health increased, the 
Duchess presumably became more unreasonable and devoted 
even a greater share of attention to literature. At any rate, that 
part of her life steadily progressed in importance, until it had 
usurped dominance over the remaining functions. In the fifteen 
years following 1645 Margaret Cavendish changed from a 
sweet, attractive, if unusual, girl to a self-absorbed, self-satisfied, 
and eccentric woman. All the pliancy, all the spring of youth 
had deserted her, and in its stead was left a serene compla- 
cency, more annoying than agreeable. She who could create 
"Blazing Worlds" was not likely to take excessive heed of this 
terrestrial footstool ; she lived unto herself as an escape from 
harassing social complications. 

Finally things came to such a pass that the Duchess could 
do nothing but write, whether she would or no. One of the 
CCXI Sociable Letters tells us that neighbors taxed her waiting- 
maids with idleness and the girls excused themselves,^ " laying 
the blame upon me, that I did not set them to any imployment, 

^ Firth, p. 172. Compare, " Your Lordship never bid me to Work, nor leave 
Writing, except when you would perswade me to spare so much time from my 
study as to take the Air for my Health," in " To his Excellency the Lord Mar- 
quess of Newcastle," prefixed to CCXI Sociable Letters. 

^ He was born at Geneva in 1573, moved to London in 161 1, and was royal 
physician to both Charleses in turn {Diet. Nat. Biog.). 

^Letters Written by Charles Lamb's '■^Princely JVoman," etc., p. 4. From a 
manuscript at Welbeck Abbey according to R. W. Goulding, the librarian there. 

* Letter CL. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 289 

but whereas they were ready to obey my commands, I was 
so slow in commanding them, as I seldom took any notice of 
them, or spoke to them, and that the truth was, they oftener 
heard of their lady, than heard, or saw her themselves, I liv- 
ing so studious a life, as they did not see me above once a 
week, nay, many times, not once in a fortnight ; wherefore, 
upon the relation of these complaints, I sent for the governess 
of my house, and bid her give order to have flax and wheels 
bought, for I, with my maids, would sit and spin. The gov- 
erness hearing me say so, smiled, I asked her the reason, she 
said, she smiled to think what uneven threads I would spin, 
for, said she, though Nature hath made you a spinster in 
poetry, yet education hath not made you a spinster in huswifry, 
and you will spoil more flax, than get cloth by your spinning, 
as being an art that requires practice to learn it. . . . Then I 
bid her leave me, to consider of some other work ; and when 
I was by myself alone, I call'd into my mind several sorts of 
wrought work, most of which, though I had will, yet I had no 
skill to work, for which I did inwardly complain of my educa- 
tion, that my mother did not force me to learn to work with 
a needle, though she found me alwayes unapt thereto ; at last 
I pitch'd upon making of silk flowers, for I did remember, 
when I was a girl, I saw my sisters make silk flowers, and I 
had made some, although ill-favour 'dly ; wherefore I sent for 
the governess of my house again, and told her, that I would 
have her buy several coloured silks, for I was resolved to im- 
ploy my time in making silk-flowers, she told me, she would 
obey my commands, but, said she, Madam, neither you, nor 
any that serves you, can do them so well, as those who make 
it their trade, neither can you make them so cheap, as they 
will sell them out of their shops, wherefore you had better buy 
those toyes, if you desire them, for it will be an unprofitable 



290 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

employment, to wast time, with a double expense of mony. 
Then I told her I would preserve, for it was summer time, 
and the fruit fresh, and ripe upon the trees ; she ask'd me 
for whom I would preserve, for I seldom did eat sweet meats 
my self, nor make banquets for strangers, unless I meant to 
feed my household servants with them ; besides, said she, you 
may keep half a score servants with the mony that is laid out 
in sugar and coals, which go to the preserving only of a few 
sweet meats, that are good for nothing but to breed obstruc- 
tions, and rot the teeth. . . . Besides, said she, none can 
. , . employ their time better, than to read, nor your Ladiship 
better than to write, for any other course of life would be 
as unpleasing and unnatural to you, as writing is delightful 
to you ; besides, you are naturally addicted to busie your time 
with pen, ink, and paper." 

This addiction increased the Duchess's unsociability and, as 
previously suggested, may have been a contributory cause of 
Newcastle's retirement after the Restoration. His wife was 
so palpably unfitted for court life, especially under Charles II, 
that he may have felt it the part of wisdom not to strive after 
political recognition. At Welbeck or Bolsover the Duchess 
would be much happier than in the busy haunts of men, and, 
personal ambition set aside, perhaps the Duke himself (now 
sixty-eight years old) preferred rural tranquillity. Their manner 
of existence in the country we must reconstruct for ourselves. 
Certainly it was not that ill-naturedly imagined by Walpole : ^ 

What a picture of foolish nobility was this stately poetic couple, 
retired to their own little domain, and intoxicating one another with 
circumstantial flattery, on what was of consequence to no mortal but 
themselves ! 

1 Walpole's Catalogue, ed. Park, III, 190-191. As unfounded is Charles 
Whibley's remark in the Cambridge History, VIII, 149, that the Duke and 
Duchess might have inspired Lord and Lady Froth in Congreve's The 
Double Dealer. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 291 

As little can one accept Sir Egerton Brydges's idyllic account : ^ 

Welbeck opened her gates to her Lord ; and the castles of the North 
received with joy their heroic chieftain, whose maternal ancestors, the 
baronial house of OGLE, had ruled over them for centuries in 
Northumberland. But Age had now made the Duke desirous only 
of repose ; and her Grace, the faithful companion of his fallen for- 
tunes, was little disposed to quit the luxurious quiet of rural grandeur, 
which was as soothing to her disposition, as it was concordant with 
her duty. To such a pair the noisy and intoxicated joy of a profligate 
court would probably have been a thousand times more painful than 
all the wants of their late chilling, but calm, poverty. They came not, 
therefore, to palaces and levees ; but amused themselves in the coun- 
try with literature and the arts. 

As a matter of fact, the Duke and Duchess must have led a 
much more prosaic existence. Newcastle seems to have been 
chiefly occupied with restoring parks ^ or racing horses,^ while 
his wife still plied those literary pursuits which had fastened 
so tightly upon her. 

What is more, she began to show a decided interest in 
Cavendish's family. Although her maternal instinct had never 
been allowed to gratify itself, she now undertook the role of 
grandmother. Henry, Earl of Ogle, had one boy, Henry, Lord 
Mansfield, and four daughters, who sometimes came to visit 
at Welbeck. On January 20, 1669- 1670, Newcastle wrote 
his son, " All your children are well, but Henry loves my 
wife better than any body and she him."^ On another occa- 
sion, the Duchess addresses a letter to Ogle, showing regard 
for him and affection for young Henry. This missive, by the 
way, is quite indecorous and furnishes another instance of how 
plain-spoken was an age in which a respectable noblewoman 

^ Preface to Sir Egerton Brydges's reprint of the True Relation, pp. 6-7. 

2 Firth, p. 71. 

3 See his rules for horse racing promulgated by John Rolleston, May 26, 1662 
(Bod. Lib., Wood 2^6 A, 149), reprinted in Firth, pp. 218-219. 

* Welbeck Afss., II, 149. 



292 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

would send such a message to her grandson. The ingenuous- 
ness of this epistle adds still further to its interest : ^ 

My lord, I am glad you have reseud such sattesfaction [as] you 
desir[ed] when your lordship was heer at welbick, and I wish with all 
my sould your lordship may haue the fruesion of all your good desirs. 
I am allso glad my lord mansfield did kindly actseept of my letter, but 
sorry he hath got a knock opon his forhead; pray tell his lordship 
from me if he wer a marred man it would be a dangrous bumpe ; but 
praying for his happenes as allso your lordship, I am, my lord, your 
lordships humbell seruant 

M. Newcastle 

Certainly this is as friendly a letter as a stepson could wish 
to receive, and if there was any trouble between Ogle and 
the Duchess, she was not to blame for it. 

Yet Newcastle's son seems to have been dissatisfied with 
existing conditions. In a letter of August lo, 1671, he is 
" very mallencholly, finding my Father more perswaded by 
his Wife then I could thinke it possible," ^ and this statement 
forms a damning coincidence with an occurrence of the pre- 
ceding July 14; for on that day there was made a "con- 
fession by John Booth before James Chadwick, a justice of 
the peace for Nottinghamshire, that he had written a libel 
against the Duchess of Newcastle for the purpose of making 
dissensions between the Duke and Duchess."^ An ugly but 
almost an inevitable suspicion points to Ogle as inciting the libel, 
although his motives are not plain. They could hardly have 
been personal dislike of the Duchess, for no milder or more 
unobjectionable lady could be found. Possibly he had wished 
a worldly, ambitious wife for his father, but Newcastle's 
retirement from political activity left the son additional oppor- 
tunities for advancement. After all, " stepmother " is an 

1 Letters Written by Charles Lamb's " Princely Woman" etc., p. 19. 
^ S. A. Strong's Catalogue of the Lette7-s and other Doctiments exhibited at 
Welbeck, p. 63. 3 Welbeck Mss., II, 149. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 293 

ill-fated word, and it may have been merely that relationship 
which prompted Ogle's ill will. The Duke and Duchess were 
so wrapped up in one another that jealousy would be an easy 
growth on the part of children by a former marriage, but 
nothing could justify the employment of these underhand 
means, which were defeated, as they richly deserved. The 
exposure precluded any further mischief from that quarter, 
while it probably served to unite husband and wife even more 
closely. So they lived on in a quiet way, busied with their pos- 
sessions, their household, or their literary talents. Surely they 
had small cause to envy Charles's court for all its bustling 
intrigues and vain pursuit of pleasure. 

HI 

THE DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE (1664-1673) 

Occasionally, however, they went up to London, and on one 
of these trips the Duchess must have come into contact with. 
Mrs. Katherine Philips. Our sole proof of their friendship is 
contained in a poem by Orinda, To my Lady M. Cavendish^ 
chusing the name of Policnte. It runs : ^ 

That Nature in your frame has taken care, 
As well your Birth as Beauty do declare, 
Since we at once discover in your Face, 
The lustre of your Eyes and of your Race : 
And that your shape and fashion does attest, 
So bright a form has yet a brighter guest, 
To future times authentick fame shall bring, 
Historians shall relate, and Poets sing. 
But since your boundless mind upon my head, 
Some rays of splendour is content to shed ; 
And least I suffer by the great surprize, 
Since you submit to meet me in disguise, 

1 Poems, 1667, P- 142- 



294 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Can lay aside what dazles vulgar sight, 
And to Orinda can be Policrite. 
You must endure my vows and find the way 
To entertain such Rites, as I can pay : 
For so the pow'r divine new praise acquires, 
By scorning nothing that it once inspires : 
I have no merits that your smile can win, 
Nor offering to appease you when I sin ; 
Nor can my useless homage hope to raise. 
When what I cannot serve, I strive to praise : 
But I can love, and love at such a pitch. 
As I dare boast it will ev'n you enrich ; 
For kindness is a Mine, when great and true, 
Of nobler Ore than ever Indians knew, 
'T is all that mortals can on Heav'n bestow 
And all that Heav'n can value here below. 

This poem must have been written between 1660 and 1664, 
the dates of " M. Cavendish's" return and Orinda's death, at 
a period when it was almost inevitable that these two literary 
ladies should meet. " The Society of Friendship " ^ had been 
organized some time before the Duchess could have assumed 
her name of Policrite — "a critic of the town" no doubt — 
and when she did so, it must have been merely to gain a for- 
mal identification with this literary group. By her very nature 
Margaret Cavendish was incapable of taking an active part in 
any approximation of the salon ; ^ she possessed such a shy, 
bashful, solitary disposition as to make even the idea of con- 
versation for conversation's sake unbearable to her. When 
M. Montegut writes that, " La duchesse de Newcastle fut, en 
date, la premiere de ces has bleus" ^ he completely miscon- 
ceives the situation. " Blue-stocking " is the last name which 

1 For some account of this organization see Edmund Gosse's Seventeenth 
Century Studies. 

2 " There is no suggestion of the salon about such a figure as the Duchess 
of Newcastle." — C. B. Tinker, Salon and English Letters, p. 90, n. 

* La Duchesse et le Due de Newcastle, p. 206. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 295 

should be applied to this reserved and unsociable authoress. 
In books she might pour forth her inmost feelings, but among 
people her tongue was so tied by self-consciousness that she 
could not have been an influential addition to Orinda's circle. 
From the tenor of Mrs. Philips's poem, the Duchess would 
seem condescendingly to have lent her name to the group 
as an honorary member. This would indeed be conferring a 
dignity, for Newcastle was such a prominent person that his 
wife possessed no small degree of importance. So it is that 
Orinda asks her to " lay aside what dazles vulgar sight " in re- 
turn for a love which is "all that mortals can on Heav'n be- 
stow." The attitude is that of an inferior who returns thanks 
for favors received, in this case the Duchess's deigning to 
enter the " Society of Friendship." Her character and the 
lack of any further evidence go to prove that she was only 
a silent partner in its workings. 

The Newcastles' most famous visit to town was made, as 
already noted, in April and May, 1667. Regarding it, Samuel 
Pepys has several entries which furnish a specific tinge to 
our ideas of the Duchess's peculiarities. For one thing she 
seems to have felt the elevation of her position and was deter- 
mined to impress London with the fact that, although living 
in the country, she was a peeress of no mean rank. On 
April 1 1 Pepys went to Whitehall " thinking there to have 
seen the Duchess of Newcastle's coming this night to Court, 
to make a visit to the Queene, the King having been with her 
yesterday, to make her a visit since her coming to town. The 
whole story of this lady is a romance, and all she does is 
romantick. Her footmen in velvet coats, and herself in an 
antique dress, as they say ; and was the other day at her own 
play, The Humorous Lovers ; ^ the most ridiculous thing that 

1 Here Pepys errs again, as we have seen him doing once before, in 
ascribing the Duke's play to the Duchess. 



296 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

ever was wrote, but yet she and her Lord mightily pleased with 
it ; and she, at the end, made her respects to the players from 
her box, and did give them thanks. There is as much expec- 
tation of her coming to Court, that so people may come to see 
her, as if it were the Queen of Sheba ; ^ but I lost my labour, 
for she did not come this night." Ten days later the expected 
visit took place, although Pepys leaves no record of it. A news- 
letter dated April 22 mentions that, " last night is memorable 
for the Duchess of Newcastle's first appearance at Court. She 
came in the evening attended with three coaches, the first of 
her gentlemen, of two horses, the second her own of six, and 
the third that of her women, of four. Her train was carried 
by a young lady in white satin. Her first visit was to the 
King, who sent the Lord Chamberlain to conduct her to the 
Queen, where his Majesty came to her. This visit is thought 
extraordinary." 2 

On the 25 th it is recorded i^ "Last night the Duchess of 
Newcastle visited the Duchess of York in the same equipage 
in which she visited the Queen." Nor was this the first time 
that these two peeresses had met. Sir Charles Lyttelton had 
journeyed to York with its titular Duke and Duchess and had 
written thence on August 7, 1665, to Christopher Hatton:^ 

Last night wee gott hither, having bine mightily feasted and wel- 
comed by the appearance of the nobillity and gentlemen of the contrys 
with the volunteer troopes as wee passed ; but more especially at 
S' George Saville's, whose entertainment was indeed very splendid. 
Hard by his house mett us on the way my L'* of Newcastle and my 
Lady, whose behavior was very pleasant, but rather to be scene then 
told. She was dressd in a vest, and, insteed of courtesies, made leggs 
and bows to the ground with her hand and head. 

^ The word is "Sweden" in the original. See Wheatley's 1895 edition, 
VI, 254, n. 

2 Hist. Mss. Comm., 12 Rep. App., Part VII, p. 47. » Ibid. 

* Hatton Correspondence ("Camden Society"), I, 47. Sir John Reresby also 
alludes to this visit in his Memoirs, p. 65. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 297 

The Duchess's reserve evidently had no connection with matters 
of public display. Despite her natural timidity among strangers, 
she seems to have enjoyed being stared at by a crowd, when 
she thought of it as a unit, not as individuals. This delight 
in attracting notice resembles the tendency towards blatant 
self-revelation apparent throughout her books, both of which 
characteristics may be laid to the same shyness that denied her 
more common means of self-expression. She could not talk 
familiarly with casual acquaintances, and to make up for that 
defect, she asked recognition from a larger public, the world 
en masse. 

Something of the Duchess's strange manner in doing so 
may be laid to the ancient stately tradition, still more to her 
personal oddities. " I never took delight in closets, or cabinets 
of toys," she tells \xs>} "but in the variety of fine clothes, and 
such toys as only were to adorn my person." And again : ^ " I 
took great delight in attiring, fine dressing, and fashions, es- 
pecially such fashions as I did invent myself, not taking that 
pleasure in such fashions as was invented by others. Also I 
did dislike any should follow my fashions, for I always took 
delight in a singularity, even in accoutrements of habits." 
This whim of 1656 had ten years later become an obsession, 
which subjected its author to severe ridicule in modish London. 
Pepys's second notice voices the common opinion, when on 
April 26 he "met my Lady Newcastle going with her coaches 
and footmen all in velvet : herself, whom I never saw before, 
as I have heard her often described, for all the town-talk is 
now a-days of her extravagancies, with her velvet-cap, her hair 
about her ears ; many black patches, because of pimples about 
her mouth ; naked-necked, without anything about it, and a 
black just-au-corps. She seemed to me a very comely woman : 
but I hope to see more of her on May-day." 

1 Firth, p. 174. 2 Ibid., p. 175. 



298 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

On May-day Pepys was not very fortunate, although he 
made every effort to carry out his purpose : " Sir W, Pen and 
I in his coach, Tiburne-way, into the Park, where a horrid 
dust, and a number of coaches, without pleasure or order. 
That which we, and almost all went for, was to see my Lady 
Newcastle ; which we could not, she being followed and 
crowded upon by coaches all the way she went, that nobody 
could come near her ; only I could see she was in a large 
black coach, adorned with silver instead of gold, and so white 
curtains, and everything black and white, and herself in her 
cap. . . . When we had spent half an hour in the Park, we 
went out again, weary of the dust, and despairing of seeing my 
Lady Newcastle ; and so back the same way, and to St. James's 
thinking to have met my Lady Newcastle before she got home, 
but we staying by the way to drink, she got home a little 
before us: so we lost our labours." On the loth this tireless 
novelty-seeker " drove hard towards Clerkenwell, thinking to 
have overtaken my Lady Newcastle, whom I saw before us in 
her coach, with 100 boys and girls running looking upon her : 
but I could not : and so she got home before I could come 
up to her. But I will get time to see her." That time finally 
arrived, but the circumstances were somewhat particular and 
demand special consideration. 

Meanwhile we may notice what impression the Duchess 
made upon another diarist, John Evelyn. He, it will be re- 
membered, was the son-in-law of Sir Richard Browne, at whose 
chapel in Paris Newcastle had married Margaret Lucas, and 
to him therefore they felt under obligations. On April 18, 
Evelyn "went to make court to the Duke and Duchess of 
Newcastle at their house in Clerkenwell,^ being newly come 

1 There was a dispute over whether this house was Newcastle's by virtue 
of the Act restoring his property lost during the Rebellion {Hist. Mss. 
Comm., 7 Rep., Parti, p. 135 a). 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 299 

out of the north. They received me with great kindnesse, and 
I was much pleas'd with the extraordinary fanciful habit, garb, 
and discourse of the Dutchess." A week later he " visited 
again y^ Duke of Newcastle, with whom I had ben acquainted 
long before in France, where the Dutchess had obligation to my 
Wife's mother, for her marriage there ; . . . My Wife being 
with me, the Duke and Dutchess both would needs bring her 
to the very Court." ^ By way of acknowledgment, on the 
27th, " I went againe with my Wife to the Dutchess of New- 
castle, who receiv'd her in a kind of transport, suitable to her 
extravagant humour and dresse, which was very singular." So 
the returned Royalists vied in showing one another courtesies, 
for there is no more mighty breeder of camaraderie than com- 
mon adversity. Mistress Evelyn was not blind to the Duchess's 
feminine foibles, however, as appears in a letter from her of 
about this time : ^ 

I was surprised to find so much extravagance and vanity in any 
person not confined within four walls. Her habit particular, fantastical, 
not unbecoming a good shape, which she may truly boast of. Her face 
discovers the facility of the sex, in being yet persuaded it deserves the 
esteem years forbid, by the infinite care she takes to place her curls 
and patches. Her mien surpasses the imagination of poets, or the 
descriptions of a romance heroine's greatness ; her gracious bows, 
seasonable nods, courteous stretching out of her hands, twinkling of 
her eyes, and various gestures of approbation, show what may be 
expected from her discourse, which is as airy, empty, whimsical, and 
rambling as her books, aiming at science, difficulties, high notions, 
terminating commonly in nonsense, oaths and obscenity. 

In the same interview " she swore if the schools did not banish 
Aristotle," in favor of her writings, " they did her wrong." ^ 

The Evelyns and Cavendishes seem to have continued their 
acquaintance, to judge from an extant letter, which is dated 

1 Entry for April 25, 1667. 

2 Introduction to Ever)rman edition of the Life, p. xvi. 
8 Ibid., p. xvii. 



300 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

June 15, 1674. It is written by Evelyn to the Duchess, who 
died in the preceding December, so that some confusion of 
times and seasons has occurred, although the letter appears to 
be genuine in its thanks for her inevitable present of books 
and in its suggestion that he has reciprocated with some 
plans for landscape gardening : ^ 

I go not into my study without reproach to my prodigious ingrati- 
tude, whilst I behold such a pile of favours & monuments of y incom- 
parable spirit, without having yet had the good fortune, or the good 
manners indeede, to make any recognitions as becomes a person so 
immensely oblig'd. That I presume to make this small present to y 
Grace (who were pleas'd to accept my collection of Architects, to whom 
timber and planting are subsidiaries) is not for the dignitie of the sub- 
ject (tho' Princes have not disdain'd to cultivate trees & gardens with 
the same hands they manag'd sceptres) but because it is the best 
expression of my gratitude that I can returne. 

Thereupon he launches forth into a comparison of the Duchess 
with all the women who have ever written and concludes in a 
burst of eloquence,^ " What of sublime & worthy in the nature 
of things, dos not y"" Grace comprehend and explaine ! " 
Another human touch brings this epistle to a close : ^ 

My Avife (whom you have ben pleas'd to dignifie by the name of 
y daughter, & to tell her that you looke upon her as your owne, for 
a mother's sake of hers, who had so greate a veneration of y"" Grace) 
presents her most humble duty to you by, Madame, 

Yr Grace's &c 

In this letter there seems to be something more than mere 
lip service, although the conventional compliments must of 
course be heavily discounted. Evelyn was apparently able 
to penetrate beneath Margaret Cavendish's superficial eccen- 
tricities to the warmly affectionate heart beating under her 
strange exterior. 

1 Wheatley's Evely)t, III, 395. 

2 Ibid., Ill, 397. ' 

3 Ibid, III, 397-398. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 301 

Not so could the court at large overlook this cause for 
merriment, as an episode in the Memoirs of Cozmt Grammont 
indirectly shows. It is, of course, far from reliable, but sympto- 
matic none the less. De Grammont arrived late for a certain 
ball and, in excusing himself, concludes : ^ 

I had forgot to tell you, that to increase my ill humour, I was 
stopped, as I was getting out of my chair, by the devil of a phantom 
in masquerade, who would by all means persuade me, that the queen 
had commanded me to dance with her ; and, as I excused myself with 
the least rudeness possible, she charged me to find out who was to be 
her partner, and desired me to send him to her immediately : so that 
your Majesty will do well to give orders about it ; for she has placed 
herself in ambush in a coach, to seize upon all those who pass through 
Whitehall. However, I must tell you, that it is worth while to see her 
dress ; for she must have at least sixty ells of gauze and silver tissue 
about her, not to mention a sort of a pyramid upon her head, adorned 
with a hundred thousand baubles. This last account surprised all the 
assembly, except those who had a share in the plot. The queen 
assured them that all she had appointed for the ball were present; 
and the king, having paused some minutes : " I bet," said he, " that 
it is the Duchess of Newcastle." "And I," said Lord Muskerry, com- 
ing up to Miss Hamilton, " will bet it is another fool ; for I am very 
much mistaken if it is not my wife." 

Muskerry was right, but to judge from Pepys's realistic descrip- 
tion, this costume might well have been the Duchess's, although 
she was never known to display such confident forwardness 
in action. 

A more frankly fictitious anecdote is contained in Sir Walter 
Scott's Peveril of the Peak. Scott had edited Anthony Hamil- 
ton's book and from the passage just cited probably gained his 
idea of the Duchess's personality. In justice to the lady, it 
must be admitted that no historical basis underlies any such 
conception as is expressed in his novel : ^ 

1 Memoirs of Count Grammont, London, 1846, pp. 134-135. 

2 Peveril of the Peak, Border Edition, III, 228-230. 



302 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

An attendant on the Court announced suddenly to their Majesties 
that a lady, who would only announce herself as a Peeress of England, 
desired to be admitted into the presence. 

The Queen said, hastily, it was impossible. No peeress, without 
announcing her title, was entitled to the privilege of her rank. 

" I could be sworn," said a nobleman in attendance, " that it is some 
whim of the Duchess of Newcastle." 

The attendant who brought the message said that he did indeed 
believe it to be the Duchess, both from the singularity of the message, 
and that the lady spoke with somewhat a foreign accent. 

" In the name of madness, then," said the King, " let us admit her. 
Her Grace is an entire raree-show in her own person — a universal 
masquerade — indeed a sort of private Bedlam-hospital, her whole 
ideas being like so many patients crazed upon the subjects of love and 
literature, who act nothing in their vagaries, save Minerva, Venus, 
and the nine Muses." 

" Your Majesty's pleasure must always supersede mine," said the 
Queen. " I only hope I shall not be expected to entertain so fantastic 
a personage — The last time she came to Court, Isabella" — (she 
spoke to one of her Portuguese ladies of honour) — " you had not 
returned from our lovely Lisbon, — her Grace had the assurance to 
assume a right to bring a train-bearer into my apartment ; and when 
this was not allowed, what then, think you, she did? — even caused 
her train to be made so long, that three mortal yards of satin and 
silver remained in the antechamber, supported by four wenches, 
while the other end was attached to her Grace's person, as she paid 
her duty at the upper end of the presence-room. Full thirty yards 
of the most beautiful silk did her Grace's madness employ in this 
manner." 

" And most beautiful damsels they were who bore this portentous 
train," said the King — "a train never equalled save by that of the 
great comet in sixty-six. Sedley and Etherege told us wonders of 
them ; for it is one advantage of this new fashion brought up by the 
Duchess, that a matron may be totally unconscious of the coquetry 
of her train and its attendants." 

" Am I to understand, then. Your Majesty's pleasure is, that the 
lady is to be admitted 1 " said the usher. 

"Certainly," said the King; "that is, if the incognita be really 
entitled to the honour — It may be as well to enquire her tide — there 
are more madwomen abroad than the Duchess of Newcastle. I will 
walk into the anteroom myself, and receive your answer." 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 303 

Impressionistically this story is successful in establishing 
the color after which Scott was striving. It does reflect com- 
mon court opinion concerning the Duchess's eccentric foibles, 
but it entirely leaves out of account the lady herself. She 
might have demanded unconditional admittance, like the 
Countess of Derby in Sir Walter's novel, but one does not 
imagine that the episode about her train could contain a grain 
of truth. How little Scott knew of the historical Duchess may 
be seen by his crediting her with a foreign accent, while, 
despite many years abroad, she never learned a word of any 
alien speech. " I had a natural stupidity towards the learning 
of any other language than my native tongue," is her admis- 
sion,i "for I could sooner and with more facility understand 
the sense, than remember the words, and for want of such 
memory makes me so unlearned in foreign languages as I am." 
Unfortunately the Duchess is now best known by these highly 
colored inventions of Scott and Hamilton, together with 
Pepys's literal but prejudiced descriptions. So it is that 
people to-day think of Margaret Cavendish — if they think of 
her at all — as "the mad Duchess," ^ an antique curiosity 
wandering through the Restoration court to furnish amusement 
for its sophisticated members. As a matter of fact, all these 
apparent inanities and absurdities, if reduced to their proper 
proportions, may be explained in the light of her natural 
qualities and unusual career. Moreover, these visits to London 
played such a small part, even in her later years, that it is 
neither fairness nor wisdom exclusively to accept the testimony 
concerning them. 

Apart from the literary and social aspects of the Duchess's 
life in town is her interest in scientific investigations. The pub- 
lication of her " philosophical " books showed a certain tendency 
in this direction, so that it was natural enough she should 

1 Firth, p. 174. 2 Jenkins, p. 23. 



304 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

wish to affiliate herself with prominent men of science. The 
meeting place for such persons was " the Royal Society of 
London," which had been revivified with remarkable success 
after the Restoration ; and accordingly at a meeting of the 
Council on May 23, 1667,^ "it was resolved, that the duchess 
of Newcastle, having intimated her desire to be present at one 
of the meetings of the society, be entertained with some ex- 
periments at the next meeting; and that the lord BERKELEY 
and Dr. CHARLETON be desired to give notice of it to her 
Grace, and to attend her to the meeting on the Thursday fol- 
lowing. It was ordered, that for the said entertainment there 
be made ready the experiments of colours formerly mentioned 
by Mr. BOYLE ; the weighing of an air in an exhausted 
receiver ; the dissolving of flesh with a certain liquor of 
Mr. BOYLE'S suggesting." On the next page we find that,^ 
"the lord BERKELEY mentioned, that the duchess of New- 
castle had expressed a great desire to come to the society, and 
to see some of their experiments ; but that she desired to be 
invited. This was seconded by the earl of CARLISLE and 
Dr. CHARLETON, who pressing, that it might be put to 
the vote accordingly, whether the duchess of Newcastle should 
at her desire be invited to be present at the meeting on the 
Thursday following ; it was carried in the affirmative. The 
ceremonies and the subjects for her entertainment were 
referred to the council." The Duchess evidently stood on 
her dignity at first but finally achieved the respect which 
she felt was due her. 

On May 30, "the duchess of Newcastle was at the meeting 
of the Royal Society, seated at the right hand of the Presi- 
dent." 3 The society's records state that she,^ " coming in, the 

1 Birch's History of the Royal Society, II, 175. ^ Ibid., II, 176. 

8 News-letter in Hist. Mss. Comm., 12 Rep. App., Part VII, p. 48. 
* Birch, 11, 177-178. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 305 

experiments appointed for her entertainment were made ; First, 
that of weighing the air, which was done with a glass receiver 
of the capacity of nine gallons and three pints ; which being 
exhausted, and put into a scale, and then opened, and the air 
let in, weighed thereupon one ounce and seventy-one carats 
more than it did when exhausted. Mr. BOYLE suggested 
afterwards, that a gage might be employed to know how 
much air was left, which was ordered to be done. Next were 
made several experiments of mixing colour. Then two cold 
liquors by mixture made hot. Then the experiment of making 
water bubble up in the rarefying engine, by drawing out the 
air; and that of making an empty bladder swell in the same 
engine. Then the experiment of making a body swim in the 
middle of the water : And that of two well-wrought marbles, 
which were not separated but by the weight of forty-seven 
pounds. After the duchess was withdrawn, Mr. HOOKE 
was put in mind of the experiment of measuring the earth 
in St. James's park, to be tried there on the Monday morning 
following." So much for facts. John Evelyn has this men- 
tion of the occurrence : ^ 

To London to wait on the Dutchess of Newcastle (who was a 
mighty pretender to learning, poetrie and philosophic, and had in both 
published divers bookes) to the Royal Society, whether she came in 
great pomp, and being received by our Lord President at the dore of 
our meeting roome, the mace &c carried before him, had several ex- 
periments shewed to her. I conducted her Grace to her coach and 
return'd home. 

Pepys as usual has the fullest and most lively account : ^ 

After dinner I walked to Arundell House, the way very nasty, the 
day of meeting of the Society being changed from Wednesday to 
Thursday, which I knew not before, because the Wednesday is a 
Council-day, and several of the Council are of the Society, and would 

1 Entry for May 30, 1667. ^ Entry for May 30, 1667. 



306 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

come but for their attending the King at Council ; where I find much 
company, indeed very much company, in expectation of the Duchesse 
of Newcastle, who had desired to be invited to the Society ; and was, 
after much debate, pro and con^ it seems many being against it ; and 
we do beUeve the town will be full of ballads of it. Anon comes the 
Duchesse with her women attending her ; among others, the Fera- 
bosco, of whom so much talk is that her lady would bid her show her 
face and kill the gallants. She is indeed black and hath good black 
little eyes, but otherwise but a very ordinary woman I do think, but 
they say sings well. The Duchesse hath been a good, comely woman; 
but her dress so antick, and her deportment so ordinary, that I do not 
like her at all, nor did I hear her say any thing that was worth hear- 
ing, but that she was full of admiration, all admiration. Several fine 
experiments were shown her of colours, loadstones, microscopes, and 
of liquers : among others, of one that did, while she was there, turn a 
piece of roasted mutton into pure blood, which was very rare. Here 
was Mrs. Moore of Cambridge, whom I had not seen before, and I 
was glad to see her ; as also a very pretty black boy that run up and 
down the room, somebody's child in Arundell House. After they had 
shown her many experiments, and she cried still she was full of ad- 
miration, she departed, being led out and in by several Lords, that 
were there ; among others Lord George Berkeley and Earl of Carlisle, 
and a very pretty young man, the Duke of Somerset. 

At this meeting there may very well have taken place a 
reported dialogue between the Duchess and Dr. Wilkins, later 
made Bishop of Chester. Wilkins was a prominent member 
of the Royal Society and a man of some wit, to judge by 
his repartee in this instance. The episode has come down 
to us in several forms, but its origin is not clear. As a 
note to his 1806 edition of Walpole's Catalogue, Thomas 
Park writes : ^ 

In a book of anecdotes this is related. The duchess of Newcastle 
once asked bishop Wilkins, how she should get up to the world in the 
moon, which he had discovered ? " Oh, Madam, (said the prelate) your 
Grace has built so many castles in the air, that you cannot want a 
place to bait at." 

1 III, iS4,n. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 307 

In 1844 Louisa Stuart Costello records the dialogue as follows i^ 

" Doctor, where am I to find a place for bating at in the way up to 
that planet? " " Madam," he replied, " of all the people in the world, 
I never expected that question from you, who have built so many 
castles in the air, that you may lie every night in one of your own." 

The misspelling of " bating " leads one to imagine that this 
story's vitality may have been oral, a conjecture which is more 
firmly established by the change of "bating" to "waiting" in 
still a third version. Stanley in his Memorials of Westminster 
Abbey makes the Duchess ask,^ " ' Doctor, where am I to find 
a place for waiting in the way up to that Planet?' 'Madam,' 
Wilkins replied, ' of all people in the world, I never expected 
that question from you, who have built so many castles in the 
air, that you may be every night at one of your own.' " The 
three forms of this anecdote, given in historical sequence, go to 
show the instability of any traditional narration, but that some 
repartee of the kind took place seems sufficiently well attested. 
The Duchess closes the Tnie Relation with an analysis of 
her own character, which affords us certain minor sidelights 
upon its composite whole. These remarks are pervaded by the 
naivetd, verbosity, and disorder which run throughout her en- 
tire autobiography, and which make it rather a natural confes- 
sion than a work of art. Its value, like that of her other 
works, lies in what we learn concerning the Duchess, not in 
her manner of telling us the facts : ^ 

As for my disposition, it is more inclining to be melancholy than 
merry, but not crabbed or peevishly melancholy, but soft, melting, soli- 
tary and contemplating melancholy. And I am apt to weep rather than 
laugh, not that I do often either of them. Also I am tender-natured, 
for it troubles my conscience to kill a fly, and the groans of a dying 
beast strike my soul. Also where I place a particular affection, I love 

1 MeTnoirs of Eminent Englishzvomen, III, 219. 

2 Edition of 1868, p. 233. 
8 Firth, pp. 175-178. 



3o8 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

extraordinarily and constantly, yet not fondly, but soberly and observ- 
ingly, not to hang about them as a trouble, but to wait upon them as 
a servant; but this affection will take no root, but where I think or 
find merit, and have leave both from divine and moral laws. Yet I find 
this passion so troublesome, as it is the only torment of my life, for 
fear any evil misfortune or accident, or sickness, or death, should come 
unto them, insomuch as I am never freely at rest. Likewise I am grate- 
ful, for I never received a courtesy — but I am impatient and troubled 
until I can return it. Also I am chaste, both by nature, and education, 
insomuch as I do abhor an unchaste thought. Likewise, I am seldom 
angry, as my servants may witness for me, for I rather choose to suffer 
some inconveniences than disturb my thoughts, which makes me wink 
many times at their faults; but when I am angry, I am very angry, 
but yet it is soon over, and I am easily pacified, if it be not such an 
injury as may create a hate. Neither am I apt to be exceptious or 
jealous, but if I have the least symptom of this passion, I declare it 
to those it concerns, for I never let it lie smothering in my breast to 
breed a malignant disease in the mind, which might break out into 
extravagant passions, or railing speeches, or indiscreet actions ; but I 
examine moderately, reason soberly, and plead gently in my own be- 
half, through a desire to keep those affections I had, or at least 
thought to have. And truly I am so vain, as to be so self-conceited, 
or so naturally partial, to think my friends have as much reason to 
love me as another, since none can love more sincerely than I, and it 
were an injustice to prefer a fainter affection, or to esteem the body 
more than the mind. Likewise I am neither spiteful, envious, nor 
malicious. I repine not at the gifts that Nature or Fortune bestows 
upon others, yet I am a great emulator ; for, though I wish none worse 
than they are, yet it is lawful for me to wish myself the best, and to 
do my honest endeavour thereunto. For I think it no crime to wish 
myself the exactest of Nature's works, my thread of life the longest, 
my chain of destiny the strongest, my mind the peaceablest, my life 
the pleasantest, my death the easiest, and the greatest saint in heaven; 
also to do my endeavour, so far as honour and honesty doth allow of, 
to be the highest on Fortune's wheel and to hold the wheel from turn- 
ing, if I can. And if it be commendable to wish another's good, it 
were a sin not to wish my own ; for as envy is a vice, so emulation 
is a virtue, but emulation is in the way to ambition, or indeed it is a 
noble ambition. But I fear my ambition inclines to vain-glory, for I 
am very ambitious; yet 'tis neither for beauty, wit, titles, wealth or 
power, but as they are steps to raise me to Fame's tower, which is to 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 



309 



live by remembrance in after-ages. Likewise I am that the vulgar call 
proud, not out of self-conceit, or to slight or condemn any, but scorn- 
ing to do a base or mean act, and disdaining rude or unworthy per- 
sons ; insomuch, that if I should find any that were rude or too bold, 
I should be apt to be so passionate, as to affront them, if I can, unless 
discretion should get betwixt my passion and their boldness, which 
sometimes perchance it might if discretion should crowd hard for 
place.^ For though I am naturally bashful, yet in such a case my spirits 
would be all on fire. Otherwise I am so well bred, as to be civil to all 
persons, of all degrees, or qualities. Likewise I am so proud, or rather 
just to my Lord, as to abate nothing of the quality of his wife, for if 
honour be the mark of merit, and his master's royal favour, who will 
favour none but those that have merit to deserve, it were a baseness 
for me to neglect the ceremony thereof. Also in some cases I am 
naturally a coward, and in other cases very valiant. As for example, 
if any of my nearest friends were in danger I should never consider 
my life in striving to help them, though I were sure to do them no 
good, and would willingly, nay cheerfully, resign my life for their 
sakes: hkewise I should not spare my life, if honour bids me die. 
But in a danger where my friends, or my honour is not concerned, or 
engaged, but only my Ufe to be unprofitably lost, I am the veriest 
coward in nature, as upon the sea, or any dangerous places, or of 
thieves, or fire, or the like. Nay the shooting of a gun, although but 
a pot-gun,^ will make me start, and stop my hearing, much less have 
I courage to discharge one ; or if a sword should be held against 
me, although but in jest, I am afraid. Also as I am not covetous, so 
I am not prodigal, but of the two I am inclining to be prodigal, yet 
I cannot say to a vain prodigality, because I imagine it is to a profit- 
able end ; for perceiving the world is given, or apt to honour the out- 
side more than the inside, worshipping show more than substance; 
and I am so vain (if it be a vanity) as to endeavour to be worshipped, 
rather than not to be regarded. Yet I shall never be so prodigal as 
to impoverish my friends, or go beyond the limits or facility of our 
estate. And though 1 desire to appear to the best advantage, whilst 
I live in the view of the public world,^ yet I could most willingly ex- 
clude myself, so as never to see the face of any creature but my Lord 
as long as I live, inclosing myself like an anchorite, wearing a frieze 

^ It is interesting to notice how the Duchess's " philosophical " theories 
pervade all her mental processes. ^ Pop-gun. 

* " Elle aimait la vie somptueuse, elle savait calculer." — M. Montegut, p. 206. 



3IO THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

gown, tied with a cord about my waist. ^ But I hope my readers will 
not think me vain for writing my life, since there have been many 
that have done the like, as Caesar, Ovid, and many more, both men 
and women, and I know no reason I may not do it as well as they : 
but I verily believe some censuring readers will scornfully say, why 
hath this Lady writ her own life? since none cares to know whose 
daughter she was or whose wife she is, or how she was bred, or what 
fortunes she had, or how she lived, or what humour or disposition she 
was of. I answer that it is true, that 't is to no purpose to the readers, 
but it is to the authoress, because I write it for my own sake, not 
theirs. Neither did I intend this piece for to delight, but to divulge ; 
not to please the fancy, but to tell the truth, lest after-ages should 
mistake, in not knowing I was daughter to one Master Lucas of 
St. Johns, near Colchester, in Essex, second wife to the Lord Marquis 
of Newcastle ; for my Lord having had two wives, I might easily have 
been mistaken, especially if I should die and my Lord marry again. 

Such was Margaret Cavendish, first Duchess of Newcastle, 
as interesting and as strange a figure as is to be found in the 
range of Enghsh Hterature. She is sufficiently striking to chal- 
lenge one's instant attention, and she holds it by sheer force 
of her humanity. Given bashfulness combined with feminine 
genius, their product seems almost a foregone conclusion ; the 
incidents of her early life only heightened and accentuated an 
inevitable process. Reserve was the keynote of Margaret Lucas's 
nature, reserve cultivated at home, developed in court, domi- 
nating her subsequent career. She finally could not conquer 
it, nor did she wish to. Contemplation was to her so much 
more satisfactory than action that a state of quiet repose 
seemed Elysium enough. This was the surface, but under- 
neath lay a woman's instinct for emotion, that now and again 
unmistakably breaks out. An intense love for her husband led 
towards worldly ambitions, in which she, as his wife, must have 
a part. These thoughts, no doubt, impelled her to join Orinda's 

1 A True Relation immediately follows " The She Anchoret," in Nature's 
Pictures. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 31 1 

circle, to visit the Royal Society, even to deck herself out 
(the woman still) in costumes more striking than appropriate. 
Above all, this was the impulse that stimulated and made pub- 
lic her multifarious compositions, that not only printed them 
but circulated the precious copies among deserving, i.e. notable, 
personages. Thus the Duchess manifested her sex in writing, 
although, except for inherent bashfulness, her genius would not 
have taken that exact form. There is nothing really inexpli- 
cable about what appears at first to be a unique personality, 
when it is considered as the natural exaggeration of the female 
temperament. Timidity brought out the Duchess's latent lit- 
erary talent, which expressed itself not in artistry but in a 
simple revelation of her mind. From every point of view, then, 
— cause, effect, and substance all being considered, — Ward 
is right when he states that,^ " if literature, arduously as she 
pursued it, was to her only a noble diversion, it was never- 
theless an organic part of a noble life." 

To gauge the moral value of Margaret Cavendish's charac- 
ter would be as futile as impossible, for, like all human beings, 
the better one comes to know her, the more difficult it is to 
generalize concerning her qualities. True, she was vain, pedan- 
tic, self-sufficient ; but, on the other hand, her honesty, loyalty, 
and warmth of heart cannot be gainsaid. Although she proved 
the laughing stock of two courts, the Duchess had the qualifica- 
tions, by no means common during Charles II's reign, for making 
an astute manager and a loving wife. Her surprising absurdi- 
ties may be largely laid to a deficiency in any sense of humor 
by which she might have comprehended the normal world and 
her own relation to it. But high seriousness generally goes 
hand in hand with a powerful imagination, the conspicuous 
feature of Margaret Cavendish's books, the basic principle in 
her genius. Her excellences and defects alike depend on this 

1 Cambridge History of English Literature, VII, 229. 



312 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

preoccupation with unseen things at the expense of more tran- 
sitory matters. She did not think it vastly important to curb 
her natural instincts and therefore is quite frank to admit her 
own failings. Indeed she glories in them, while her plays 
paradoxically ring with denunciations of mankind's consuming 
follies. This contradictory attitude is essentially a woman's, 
wherein perhaps lies its clear distinction, its mixture of incon- 
sistency and noble charm. "In her personality as it stands 
forth from her autobiography," writes Ward again,i "there is 
something which if less than heroic is more than merely attrac- 
tive." And Charles Lamb, who better than any modern has 
entered into the Duchess's spirit, characterizes her with finality 
as "a dear friend of mine, of the last century but one — the 
thrice noble, chaste and virtuous — but again, somewhat fan- 
tastical and original-brained, generous Margaret Newcastle." ^ 
Perhaps the fairest way of all to survey the Duchess is through 
the eyes of him who knew and loved her best — the Duke 
himself. Being no fool, he must have soon perceived what 
manner of person his wife was and must have watched her 
eccentricities develop with the years. He could not but have 
noted that her childlessness offered no opportunity for affec- 
tionate expression and that her consequent need of utterance 
found outlet in literary production. Newcastle was the only 
person on whom she could lavish real feeling, as appeared in 
her crowning act of devotion, the Life of William Cavendishe. 
No doubt he, like Pepys, saw the absurdities in this panegyric, 
but innate chivalry would not admit of his spuming the Duchess's 
good intentions. It is hard to believe that the Duke did not 
realize her weaknesses here as well as in Poems and Fancies, 
Orations, or the "philosophical" books, where he laughs slyly 
in one sleeve, while the other hand extends to their authoress 

1 Cambridge History of English Literature, VII, 229. 

^ See " Mackery End in Hertfordshire " in Essays of Elia, p. 131. 



THE DUCHESS HERSELF 313 

incredible compliments. Certainly his opinion that salt is the 
primal cause and his epigram concerning a wise woman show 
that Cavendish's sense of humor did not fall short in regard 
to his wife's idiosyncracies. Yet, at the same time, and this 
is the important point, he never wavered in his complete attach- 
ment to her. A woman who could inspire such permanent 
affection, despite her peculiar shortcomings, deserves some- 
thing more than consummate scorn or supercilious ridicule. 
By reason of this very complexity, the first Duchess of New- 
castle is not to be lightly dismissed from one's attention. On 
the contrary she demands an unusual share of consideration, 
sympathy, and respect. 



CONCLUSION 

Margaret and William Cavendish have up to the present 
time been considered as of historical rather than of literary 
importance, and this book can only confirm that verdict. Never- 
theless, it is true that both the Duke and the Duchess of New- 
castle have a place in the history of literature, a place which 
cannot be ignored. The Duke was a classic writer on horses, 
he had a share in plays by Shirley and Shadwell, and he may 
have given Dryden considerable aid in the composition of 
Sir Martin Mar-all] his "Little Book," addressed to King 
Charles, will be more appreciated as it becomes better known. 
On the other hand, the art of manage is an outworn subject, 
Newcastle's dramatic work is not of great compass or value, 
and the " Little Book " is comparatively inaccessible. It is 
therefore on his patronage of more gifted men that the larger 
share of the Duke's literary reputation must depend. Jonson 
and Hobbes, Shirley and Shadwell, Settle and Dryden are 
no mean names to have upon one's list of proteges, and they 
inevitably shed lustre upon their less talented patron. Per- 
haps now that the facts regarding his relations with these men 
are better understood. Cavendish will occupy a surer place in 
the world of letters. Not even then, however, would one wish 
to put his rank as author or patron so high as his position in 
history. Charles I's intimate friend, Charles 11 's tutor, the 
Commander-in-chief of the Royalist army in the north of 
England, he needs no doubtful glamor borrowed from the 
realm of literature to adorn his name ; Newcastle has an 
assured immortality as general, cavalier, and gentleman. 

314 



CONCLUSION 315 

So, too, the Duchess is least successful where she is most 
purely literary, which with her means most purely imaginative. 
The more vague and romantic her books are, the less form 
and substance they seem to have, until their value becomes 
directly proportional to their tangibility. The pseudo-science 
must give place to the plays, the plays to the poems, the 
poems to the narrative prose, just as all her work looks in- 
significant beside the Life of Newcastle. There for once 
only Margaret Cavendish treated a subject which kept her 
continuously occupied with affairs of this world and as a 
result created one lasting work of art. Yet even her acknow- 
ledged masterpiece seems unimportant compared with the all- 
important fact that she, a woman, in the years between 1649 
and 1668, wrote thirteen books and had them published — at 
that period almost an unheard-of feat. The magnitude of the 
Duchess's achievement as a pioneer among literary women 
was never equalled by the excellence of any individual work 
which she accomplished or by the specific influence which it 
exerted. It makes no difference that her fantastic stories had 
few imitators or that the CCXI Sociable Letters scarcely affected 
the development of the letter-novel ; these and the other folio 
volumes bear witness to her industry and initiative. Her main 
distinction is to have been one of the first English authoresses 
and, more than that, a woman of unusual characteristics and 
marked individuality. 

Nor is all this to be taken in a derogatory way. If the New- 
castles are not of supreme moment as producers of literature, 
yet they themselves are individual and attractive personages. 
And, as often happens, it is the written word which gives 
expression to its author's personality and reveals his inner con- 
sciousness. Indeed, the Duchess of Newcastle's writings prove 
themselves a new method of approach to an unexplored coun- 
try of the soul, for in them the reader comes face to face 



3l6 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

with a living, breathing woman and learns to know her as she 
is, without reserve and without artificiality. When, in addition, 
they bring us to a knowledge of her lord and master, no 
further justification is needed for the literary productions of 
Margaret Cavendish. Whatever may be their technical limita- 
tions, they have an indisputable place among those books 
which help us better to understand and to appreciate the 
puzzling intricacies of human nature. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

I. Works in which William Cavendish had a Share (except 
Proclamations, Dispatches, and the Like) 

I and 2. The Country Captaine, And the Varietie, Two Comedies, 
Written by a Person of Honor. Lately presented by His Majes- 
ties Servants, at the Black-Fryers. London, Printed for Hum : 
Robinson at the Three-Pidgeons, and Hum : Moseley at the 
Princes Armes in St. Pauls Churchyard 1649. ^2°. 

This volume has separate title-pages, viz. : 

1 . The Country Captaine. A Comoedye Lately Presented By his Majes- 

ties Servants at the Blackfryers. In s'Grave van Haghe. Printed by 
Samuell Broun English Bookseller at the Signe of the English 
Printing house in the Achter-ome. Anno 1 649. 

2. The Varietie, A Comoedy, Lately presented by his Majesties Servants 

at the Black-Friers. London, Printed for Humphrey Moseley, and 
are to be sold at his Shop at the Princes Armes in St. Pauls 
Churchyard 1649. 

3. La M^thode Nouvelle et Invention extraordinaire de dresser les 
Chevaux les travailler selon la Nature et parfaire la nature par la 
subtilte de Fart ; la quelle n'a jamais ete treuvee que Par Le tres- 
noble haut et tres-puissant Prince Guillaume, Marquis et Comte 
de Newcastle, Viconte de Mansfield, Baron de Bolsover et Ogle, 
Seigneur de Cavendish, Bothal et Hepwel etc. etc. Traduit de 
I'Anglois de I'Auteur en Francois par son Commandement A 
Anvers. Chez Jacques van Meurs I'an MDCLVIII. Folio. 

Seconde edition. Londres, 1737. Folio. 

An English translation comprises Volume I of "A General Sys- 
tem of Horsemanship in all it's Branches : containing A Faithful 
Translation of that most noble and useful Work of his Grace, 
William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, Entitled The Manner 

317 



31 8 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

of Feeding, Dressing and Training of Horses for the Great 
Saddle, and Fitting them for the Service of the Field in Time 
of War, or for the Exercise and Improvement of Gentlemen 
in the Academy at home : A Science peculiarly necessary 
throughout aU Europe and which has hitherto been so much 
neglected or discouraged in England, that young Gentlemen 
have been obliged to have recourse to foreign Nations for 
this Part of their Education. With all the original Copper- 
Plates, in Number forty-three which were engrav'd by the best 
Foreign Masters under his Grace's immediate Care and Inspec- 
tion, and which are explained in the different Lessons. And to 
give all the Improvements that may be. This Work is orna- 
mented with Head-Pieces and Initial Letters, properly adapted 
to the subsequent Chapters and enlarged with an Index. 
London : Printed for J. Brindley Bookseller to his Royal High- 
ness the Prince of Wales in New Bond St. MDCCXLHI." 
Folio. (This book was also printed in 1748.) 

A manuscript translation into Portuguese by Manoel Zelles da 
Sylva is entitled, " Arte de Cavallaria composto pelo Duque 
de Neucastel." 
4. A New Method and Extraordinary Invention to dress Horses and 
Work them according to Nature ; as also To Perfect Nature by 
the Subtilty of Art ; which was never found out, but by The 
Thrice Noble, High and Puissant Prince William Cavendishe, 
Duke, Marquess and Earl of Newcastle ; Earl of Ogle ; Viscount 
Mansfield ; and Baron of Bolsover, of Ogle, of Bertram, Bothal 
and Hepple [etc. etc.]. London, Printed by Tho. Milbourn in 
the Year 1667. Folio. 

A French translation. London, 1667. (No record of this is to be 
found except the statement of its existence by M. de SoUeysel 
in the 167 1 translation.) 

A second French translation " avec des Annotations ou Supple- 
ments pour rendre plus intelligibles les endroits difficiles. Par 
Monsieur De Solleysel, ^ficuyer Sieur du Clapier, & I'un des 
Chefs de I'Acade'mie Royale, pres I'Hotel de Condd." 1671. 

Second English edition. London, 1677. Folio. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 319 

Des Welt-beriihmten Herzog Wilhelms von Newcastle Neueroffnete 
Reit-Bahn Welche erstlich durch Ihme selbsten erfunden und 
in Englischer Sprache ans Licht gebracht ; Hernach Durch 
Herrn von Solleisel Konigl. Franssosischen Bereiter aus dem 
Englischen ins Franssosische versetzt mit schonen Anmerckungen 
und die schwereste Puncten erlauterenden Zusatzen vermehrt 
und mit nothwendigen Kupfern versehen ; Anjestzo aber Dem 
Hoch-Lobl. Deutschen Adel zu Ehren, Nutz und Vergniigen 
auf ersuchen eines der Edien Pferd- und Reist-Kunst grossen 
Liebhabers. Ins reine Deutsche gebracht von Dem Wolgebohrnen 
Herrn Johann Philipp Ferdinand Pernauer Herrn von Pemay, 
Freyherrn, Niirnberg. In Verlegung Johann Ziegers und Georg 
Lehmanns Gedruckt bey Johann Michael Sporlen. Im Jahr 
Christi 1700. Folio. 

The original English version. Dublin, 1740. 12°. 

5. Sir Martin Mar-all or the Feigned Innocence : A Comedy as it 

was Acted at his Highnesse the Duke of York's Theatre. 
London, Printed for H. Herringman at the Sign of the Blew 
Anchor in the Lower Walk of the New Exchange, 1668. 4°. 

Second edition, 1669. 4°. 

Third edition, 1678. 4°. 

Sir Martin Marr-all ; or The Feign'd Innocence. A Comedy As it 
is Acted By Their Majesties Servants, By Mr. Dryden. London, 
Printed for Henry Herringman, and are to be sold by Francis 
Saunders, at the Blue Anchor in the Lower Walk of the New 
Exchange, 1691. 4°. In "The First Volume of the Works of 
Mr. John Dryden. London, Printed for Jacob Tonson, at the 
Sign of the Judge's Head, near the Inner-Temple-Gate, in Fleet 
Street 1695." 

(From this time on " Sir Martin " has been included in all editions of 
Dryden's works.) 

6. The Humorous Lovers. A Comedy, Acted by His Royal Highness's 

Servants. Written by His Grace the Duke of Newcastle. London, 
Printed by J. M. for H. Herringman, at the Sign of the Blew 
Anchor in the Lower-Walk of the New-Exchang, 1677. 4°. 



320 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

7. The Triumphant Widow, or the Medley of Humours. A Comedy, 
acted by His Royal Highness's Servants. Written by His 
Grace the Duke of Newcastle. London, Printed by J. M. 
for H. Herringman, at the Sign of the Blew Anchor in the 
Lower-Walk of the New-Exchang, 1677. 4°. 

[8. The " Little Book," which exists in two manuscript copies, one in the 
Bodleian Library and one in the possession of the Duke of Portland, 
has been reprinted in "A Catalogue of Letters and Other Historical 
Documents preserved in the Library at Welbeck. London, 1903," 
edited by Sanford Arthur Strong, pp. 173-236. In that volume are 
also some unprinted poems and songs by the Duke, pp. 57-60.] 

[9. " The Earl of Newcastle's letter of instructions to Prince Charles for 
his studies, conduct and behaviour " is preserved with the Royal 
Letters in the Harleian Ms. 6988, Art. 62. It has been reprinted in 
Sir Henry Ellis's " Original Letters, Illustrative of English History," 
Series I, Vol. Ill, p. 288, and in Professor C. H. Firth's edition of 
the " Life of William Cavendish," 1906, pp. 184-187.] 



II. Works by Margaret Cavendish 

Poems and Fancies : Written By the Right Honourable, the Lady 
Margaret, Countesse of Newcastle. London, Printed by T, R. 
for J. Martin and J. Allestrye at the Bell in Saint Pauls Church 
Yard 1653. Folio. 

Poems, and Phancies Written By the Thrice Noble, Illustrious, 
and Excellent Princess The Lady Marchioness of Newcastle. 
The Second Impression much Altered and Corrected. London, 
Printed by WUliam Wilson, Anno Dom. MDCLXIV. Folio. 

Poems, or Several Fancies in Verse : with the Animal Parliament, 
in Prose. Written by the Thrice Noble, Illustrious, and Excellent 
Princess, The Duchess of Newcastle. The Third Edition. 
London, Printed by A. Maxwell, in the Year 1668. Folio. 

(" Select Poems of the Duchess of Newcastle, edited by Sir Egerton 
Brydges, Bart., Kent, 181 3. 8°." Twenty-five copies printed as a 
specimen of the Lee Priory Press, and the first work printed there.) 

(Selected poems by the Duchess also occur in " Poems by Eminent 
Ladies, London, R. Baldwin, 1755," Vol. II, pp. 197-212; in 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 321 

Alexander Dyce's " Specimens of British Poetesses. London, 1 825," 
pp. 88-98; and in George W. Bethune's "The British Female 
Poets: with biographical and critical notices, Philadelphia, Lindsay 
& Blakiston, 1848," pp. 35-38.) 

Philosophicall fancies. Written by Rt. Hon. the Lady Newcastle. 
London, Printed by Tho. Rycroft for J. Martin & J. Allestrye. 
21 May, 1653. 8°. 

The World's Olio. London, 1655. Folio. 

The World's Olio. Written by the Thrice Noble, Illustrious, and 
most Excellent Princess, the Duchess of Newcastle. The Second 
Edition. London, Printed by A. Maxwell, in the Year 167 1. Folio. 

The Philosophical and Physical Opinions, Written by her Excel- 
lency, the Lady Marchionesse of Newcastle. London, Printed 
for J. Martin and J. Allestrye at the Bell in St. Pauls Church- 
Yard 1655. Folio. 

Second edition. London, Printed by William Wilson, Anno Dom. 
MDCLXIII. Folio. 

Nature's Pictures drawn by Fancie's Pencil to the Life. Written 
by the Thrice Noble, Illustrious, and Excellent Princess, the Lady 
Marchioness of Newcastle. In this Volume there are several 
feigned Stories of Natural Descriptions, as Comical, Tragical, 
and Tragi-comical, Poetical, Romancical, Philosophical, and 
Historical, both in Prose and Verse, some all Verse, some all 
Prose, some mixt, partly Prose and partly Verse. Also there 
are some Morals and some Dialogues ; but they are as the 
advantage Loaves of Bread to Baker's Dozen ; and a true 
Story at the latter End, wherein there is no feignings. London, 
Printed by J. Martin and J. Allestrye, at the Bell, in Saint Pauls 
Church Yard, 1656 (some copies 1655). Folio. 

Natures Picture Drawn by Fancies Pencil to the Life, Being 
several Feigned Stories, Comical, Tragical, Tragi-comical, Poeti- 
cal, Romancical, Philosophical, Historical, and Moral : Some in 
Verse, some in Prose; some mixt, and some by Dialogues. 
Written by the Thrice Noble, Illustrious, and most Excellent 
Princess, the Duchess of Newcastle. The Second Edition. 
London, Printed by A. Maxwell in the Year 1671. Folio. 



322 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

(" The Experienced Traveller " and " The She Anchoret " appeared in 
" Poems on Several Subjects, both Comical and Serious. In Two 
Parts, By Alexander Nicol, Schoolmaster. To which are added 
The Experienced Gentleman, and The She Anchoret ; Written in 
Cromwell's Time by the then Duchess of Newcastle. Edinburgh. 
Printed for the Author and James Stark Bookseller in Dundee; 
and sold by him and the other Booksellers in town and country 
MDCCLXVI." 12°. The separate title-page reads :" A Treasure 
of Knowledge ; or The Female Oracle. Wherein is delineated The 
Experienced Traveller ; likewise the She Anchoret ; in which many 
curious Questions are resolved, put by Natural Philosophers, Phy- 
sicians, Moral Philosophers, Theological Students, Preachers, Judges, 
Tradesmen, Masters of Families, Married Men and their Wives, 
Nurses, Widowers and Widows, Virgins, Lovers, Poets and Aged 
Persons. By the late Duchess of Newcastle.") 

(" A True Relation of my Birth, Breeding and Life," which constituted 
Book XI of the first edition of " Nature's Pictures," but which did 
not appear in the second edition, was published again as " A True 
Relation of the Birth, Breeding, and Life, of Margaret Cavendish, 
Duchess of Newcastle. Written by herself. With a Critical Preface 
etc. by Sir Egerton Brydges, M. P. Kent : Printed at the private- 
Press of Lee Priory: By Johnson and Warwick. 1814." This is 
the third publication in octavo printed at the private press of Lee 
Priory, Kent. The impression is limited as usual to one hundred 
copies. " A True Relation " is also the most important reprint in 
" The Cavalier and His Lady. Selections from the Works of the 
First Duke and Duchess of Newcastle. Edited with an introduc- 
tory essay by Edward Jenkins. London, Macmillan and Co., 1872." 
Golden Treasury Series.) 

6. Playes. Written by the Thrice Noble, Illustrious and Excellent 

Princess, the Lady Marchioness of Newcastle. London, Printed 
by A. Warren for John Martyn, James AUestry and Tho. Dicas 
at the Bell in Saint Pauls Church Yard, 1662. Folio. 

7. Orations of Divers Sorts, Accomodated to Divers Places. Written 

by the Thrice Noble, Illustrious and Excellent Princess, the Lady 
Marchioness of Newcastle. London, Printed Anno Dom. 1662 
(some copies 1663). Folio. 
Second edition. London, Printed by A. Maxwell, in the Year 
1668. Folio. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 323 

CCXI Sociable Letters, Written by the Thrice Noble, Illustrious, 
and Excellent Princess, the Lady Marchioness of Newcastle. 
London, Printed by William Wilson, Anno Dom. MDCLXIV. 
Folio. 

Philosophical Letters : or Modest Reflections Upon some Opinions 
in Natural Philosophy, maintained by several Famous and 
Learned Authors of this Age, Expressed by way of Letters : 
By the Thrice Noble, Illustrious and Excellent Princess, the 
Lady Marchioness of Newcastle. London, Printed in the Year 
1664. Folio. 

Observations upon Experimental Philosophy, to which is added 
The Description of a New Blazing World. Written by the Thrice 
Noble, Illustrious and Excellent Princesse, the Duchess of 
Newcastle. London, Printed by A. Maxwell in the Year 1666. 
Folio. A separate title page announces " The Description of a 
New World, caUed The Blazing World." 

Second edition. London, 1668. FoUo. 

The Life of the Thrice Noble, High and Puissant Prince William 
Cavendishe, Duke, Marquess, and Earl of Newcastle, Earl of 
Ogle ; Viscount Mansfield ; and Baron of Bolsover, of Ogle, 
Bothal and Hepple: Gentleman of His Majesties Bed-chamber ; 
one of His Majesties most Honourable Privy-Councel ; Knight 
of the most Noble Order of the Garter; His Majesties Lieu- 
tenant of the County and Tovrai of Nottingham ; and Justice 
in Ayre Trent- North : who had the honour to be Governour 
to our most Glorious King, and Gracious Sovereign, in his 
Youth, when He was Prince of Wales ; and soon after was 
made Captain General of all the Provinces beyond the River 
of Trent, and other Parts of the Kingdom of England, with 
Power, by a special Commission, to make Knights. Written 
by the Thrice Noble, Illustrious and Excellent Princess, Mar- 
garet, Duchess of Newcastle, His Wife. London, Printed by 
A. Maxwell, in the Year 1667. Folio. 

De Vita et Rebus Gestis Nobilissimi Illustrissimique Principis 
Guilielmi Duels Novo-Castrensis Ab Excellentissima Prin- 
cipe, Margareta Ipsius Uxore Sanctissima Conscript! Et Ex 



324 THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 

Anglico in Latinum Conversi. Londini, Excudebat T. M., 
MDCLXVin. Folio. 

Second English edition. London, 1675. 4°. 

The Lives of William Cavendishe, Duke of Newcastle and of his 
wife Margaret Duchess of Newcastle. Written by the Thrice 
Noble and Illustrious Princess, Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle. 
Edited with a preface and occasional notes by Mark Antony 
Lower, M. A., etc. London: John Russell Smith, 36, Soho Square. 
1872. (Library of Old Authors.) 

The Life of William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle to which is 
added The True Relation of My Birth Breeding and Life by 
Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle. Edited by C. H. Firth, M. A. 
(Editor of " Memoirs of the Life of Colonel Hutchinson "). 
With four etched Portraits. London, John C. Nimmo, 14, 
King William Street, Strand, W. C. 1886. (300 copies printed 
for England, 200 for America.) 

The Cavalier in Exile. Being the Lives of the First Duke and/ 
Dutchess of Newcastle. Written by Margaret dutchess of Nev/- 
castle. London, George Newnes, Ltd. Southampton. Street, 
Strand, 1903. (Newnes' Pocket Classics.) 

The Life of William Cavendish Duke of Newcastle to whicb is 
added The True Relation of My Birth Breeding and Life by 
Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle. Edited by C. H. Firth, M, A.,^ 
Regius Professor of Modem History in the University of Ox- 
ford. Second Edition, Revised, with Additional Notes. With 
Twelve Appendices and an Index. London, George Routledge 
& Sons, Limited. New York: E. P. Dutton & Co. [1906.] 
(The London Library.) 

Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle : Life of the Duke, Memoirs of 
her own Life & Certain [i.e. 51] Sociable Letters. Everyman's 
Library. Edited by Ernest Rhys. No. 722, Biography. London 
& Toronto : J. M. Dent & Sons, Ltd. New York : E. P. Dut- 
ton & Co. [November, 1915.] 
12. Plays, Never before Printed. Written By the Thrice Noble, 
Illustrious, and Excellent Princesse, the Duchess of Newcastle. 
London, Printed by A. Maxwell in the Year MDCLXVIII. Folio. 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 325 

13. Grounds of Natural Philosophy: Divided into Thirteen Parts: 
with an Appendix containing Five Parts. The Second Edition, 
much altered from the First, which went under the Name of 
Philosophical and Physical Opinions. Written by the Thrice 
Noble, Illustrious, and Excellent Princess, the Duchess of 
Newcastle. London, Printed by A. Maxwell in the Year 
1668. Folio. 



INDEX 



Addison, Joseph, 71 note. Spectator, 

The, 71 note 
Airy, Osmund, Charles II, 19 note, 134 

note 
Albrecht, L., Drydeti's ^^ Sir Martin 

Mar-all" 151 note 
Anglia, 84 note 
Argyle, Earl of, 53, 54 
Aristophanes, 113. Clouds, The, 113 
Ascham, Roger, 170 
Ash, Mr., 62, 63 

Ashmole, Elias, 259 note, 260 note 
Ashmolean Catalogue, 259 note, 260 

note 
Aubrey, John, 120, 124, 127. Brief 

Lives, 120 note, 124 note, 127 note 
Aylesbury, William, 51 

Bacon, Francis, Lord, 188 note, 246. 

Novum Organum, 188 note. Works, 

188 note 
BagfoTd Ballads, The, 160, 260 note 
Baillie Letters, 36 note 
Baillon, Conte de, Lettres inidites de 

Henriette- Marie, 28 note 
Ballard, George, Memoirs of British 

Ladies, 46 note, 70 note, 287 note 
Banks, Sir Thomas, Dormant and 

Extinct Barottage of England, 12 

note, 13 note 
Barlow, Thomas, 259 
Basset, William, 11 
Behn, Mrs. Aphra, 172 
Bellasis, Colonel John, 33, 34, 82 
Bethune, George W., British Female 

Poets, The, 321 
Beynham, Mrs., 50 
Bickley, Francis, 236. Cavendish Fam- 
ily, The, 236 note 
Birch, Thomas, History of the Royal 

Society, The, 304 notes 
Birkenhead, John, 126, 127. Editor 

oi Mercurius Aulicus, 126-127 
Blackbume, Richard, 123. Vitce Hob- 

biance auctarium, 123 note 



Blundeville, Mr., 138 

Boccaccio, Giovanni, Decameron, 204 

Bohemia, Queen of, 45 

Boswell, James, 80 

Boucheret, Matthew, 98 note 

Brackley, Elizabeth (nee Cavendish), 
Countess of Bridgwater, 77, 121 

Brackley, John, Earl of Bridgwater, 
77. 121 

Bramhall, John, Bishop of London- 
derry, 122, 123. Castigations of 
Air. Hobbes, 123. Catching of Levi- 
athan, The, 123. Defence of True 
Liberty, A, 123. Works, 122 notes, 
123 notes 

Brandenburg, Elector of, 54 

Brindley, John, 136, 318 

Bristol, Earl of, 64 

Bristow, James, 198 

Brome, Richard, 104, 116-119, 165, 
167. Court Beggar, The, 104. Cov- 
ent Garden Weeded, The, 116. North- 
ern Lass, The, 117. Sparagus Gar- 
den, The, 117, 165. Works, 104 
note, 117 note 

Brooke, Ralph, 221. Discoverie of Cer- 
tai>ie Errours, A, 221 

Brooks, Mr., 267 note 

Broun, Samuell, 112 note, 317 

Brown, F. C, Elkanah Settle, His Life 
and Works, 162 notes 

Browne, Sir Richard, 48, 50 note, 
298 

Brydges, Sir Egerton, 266, 266 note, 
291, 291 note. Editor of Selected 
Poems of the Duchess of Newcastle, 
266 note, 320. Editor of True Re- 
lation, A, 291 note, 322 

Bullen, A. H., 102-105, 108. Collec- 
tion of Old English Plays, A, 102, 
102 note, 104-107 notes, 109 notes 

Burghclere, Lady, George Villiers, 76 
note 

Butler, Samuel, 78. Hudibras, 78 
note 



327 



328 



THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 



Caesar, Julius, 79, 153, 247, 310 

Calendar of Claretidon State Papers, 5 1 
note, 53-55 notes, 57 note, 136 note, 
184 note 

Calendar of the Proceedings of the Com- 
mittee for Compounding, 56 note 

Calendar of State Papers, 15 note, 41 
note, 57 note, 60 note 

Cambridge History of English Litera- 
ture, The, 135 note, 181 note, 182 
note, 290 note, 311 note, 312 note 

Camby, Captain, 39 

Camden, William, 220-222, 221 note. 
Britannia, 220, 221, 221 notes, 222 
note 

Caracena, Marquis of, 59 

Carlyle, Thomas, Letters and Speeches 
of Oliver Crojnwell, 33 note 

Carte, Thomas, Collection of Original 
Letters, A, 53 note 

Cartwright, William, 112 

Castle Rodrigo, Marquis of, 45 

Catalogue of the British Museum, 186 
note, 258 note 

Catalogue of the TTiomasoti Tracts, 26 
note 

Cavalier in Exile, The, 5 note, 324 

Cavendish, Catharine (nee Ogle), 
(Newcastle's mother), 7, 11, 68, 77, 
88 

Cavendish, Charles, Lord Mansfield 
(Newcastle's elder son), 45, 52, 66, 
77, 79, 88, 100 

Cavendish, Sir Charles (Newcastle's 
father), 7-1 1, 77 

Cavendish, Sir Charles (Newcastle's 
brother), 8, 54-58, 66, 77, 86, 124, 
174, 182, 199, 199 note 

Cavendish, Christian, Countess of 
Devon, 100 

Cavendish, Elizabeth (nee Basset), 
Countess of Newcastle (Newcastle's 
first wife), 11, 68, 77 

Cavendish, Elizabeth (n^e Hardwick), 
afterwards Elizabeth Talbot (New- 
castle's grandmother), 68, 77, 100, 
221 note 

Cavendish, Grace (nee Talbot) (New- 
castle's aunt), 8 note, 77 

Cavendish, Henry (Newcastle'suncle), 
8 note, 77 

Cavendish, Henry, Earl of Ogle (New- 
castle's younger son), 45, 52, 62, 66, 
70, 77, 291-293 



Cavendish, Henry, Lord Mansfield 
(Newcastle's grandson), 291, 292 

Cavendish, Margaret (nee Lucas), 
Duchess of Newcastle (Newcastle's 
second wife), 1-7, 11, 12 note, 13, 
14, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22 note, 23-25, 
27-30, 32-34, 36, 37, 39, 46-49, 52 
note, 53-55, 57, 58, 61-63, 65, 67, 
68, 70-85, 92, 100, 114, 124-127, 

134. 137. 141, 142, 144. 145' 154. 
155, 158, 159, 168, 171, 172, i73note, 
174-184, 181-182 notes, 186-200, 
187-189 notes, 198-199 notes, 202, 
204, 203-204 notes, 206-220, 220- 
221 notes, 222-225, 227-268, 227 
note, 251 note, 259 note, 266 note, 
270-288, 283-284 notes, 290-307, 
290 note, 294-295 notes, 309 note, 
310-316, 320-325. Blazing World, 
The, 209 note, 237, 252, 252 note, 
258, 265, 323. Grounds of Natural 
Philosophy, 193, 325. Life of Wil- 
liam Cavendishe, The, 1-3, 5, 7 note, 
28, 32, 44, 56, 65, 71, 80-82, 84, 99 
note, 125, 169, 171, 184, 227, 249 
note, 252, 255 note, 258, 259, 265, 
266, 283, 312, 315, 323. Nature's 
Pictures, 81 note, 198, 203, 206, 209, 
211, 213, 228 note, 266, 273 note, 
310 note, 321, 322. Observations 
upon EJxperimental Philosophy, 127 
note, 196, 252, 259, 323. Orations 
of Divers Sorts, 233, 236, 237, 245, 
312, 322. Philosophical and Physi- 
cal Opinions, 98 note, 125 note, 179 
note, 185 note, 186, 187, 188-189 
notes, 189, 191, 193, 195, 196, 199 
note, 202 note, 226 note, 245, 321. 
Philosophical Fancies, 172, 186, 268 
note, 321. Philosophical Letters, 127 
note, 195-197. 197 note, 250, 323. 
Playes (158- 1 59 notes, 214, 213- 
214 notes, 259, 322): Apocryphal 
Ladies, The, 215, 216, 226; Bell in 
Campo, 225, 226; Comedy of the 
Several Wits, The, 218; Comical 
Hash, The, 225; Female Academy, 
The, 226; Lady Contemplation, The, 
158, 218, 263 note; Love's Adven- 
tures, 217; Matrimonial Trouble, 
The, 222 ; Nature's Three Daugh- 
ters, 223 ; Publick Wooing, The, 159 
note, 222 ; Religious, The, 224 ; Un- 
natural Tragedy, The, 220, 222 ; 



INDEX 



329 



H^ts Cabal, The, 219; Youths Glory 
and Deaths Banquet, 218. Flays, 
Never Be/ore Printed (227, 228 note, 
324): Bridals, The, 230; Convent 0/ 
Pleasure, The, 230, 232 ; Piece of a 
Play, A, 232 ; Presence, The, 229, 
229 note ; Scenes, 229 ; Sociable Com- 
panions, The, 228. Poems and Fancies^ 
47, 173, 173 note, 179, 184 note, 
185-187, 188 note, 197 note, 263 
note, 312, 320. True Relation of my 
Birth, Breeding and Life, A, 3, 47 
note, 51 note, 55 note, 57 note, 172 
note, 186 note, 203, 266, 285, 307, 
310 note, 322. CCXI Sociable Let- 
ters, 92, 173 note, 184-185 notes, 
236 note, 237, 243, 251, 255, 270 
note, 283 note, 288, 288 note, 315, 
323. World''s Olio, The, 172, 185, 
195, 198, 199 

Cavendish, Sir William (Newcastle's 
grandfather), 7, 8, 77 

Cavendish, William, Earl of Devon- 
shire, 95, 100, 259 

Cavendish, Wilham, Duke of New- 
castle, 2, 4-42, 44, 45, 48-92, 54 note, 
94-103, 105-108, 110-113, 1 16-146, 
122 note, 134-136 notes, 149-171, 
182-184, 184-185 notes, 188, 189 
note, 192, 199 note, 204 note, 205, 
212, 213, 217-219, 223, 228, 230, 
233» 235, 238, 241, 245, 248, 249, 
255-257, 259, 260, 266, 270, 273-283, 
288, 288 note, 290, 290 note, 291- 
293, 295, 295 note, 296, 298, 298 note, 
299.310.312-315,317-320,323,324. 
Country Captain, The, 102-108, 103 
notes, 106 notes, 107 note, 110-114, 
317. Exile, The, 145. LTeyresse, The, 
145. Humorous Lovers, The, 145, 
150, 156 note, 295, 319. "Little 
Book," The, 128, 134, 134 note, 169, 
235, 314, 320. Methode Nouvelle, 
La, 136, 139,317. New Method and 
Extraordinary Lnvention, A, 52 note, 
53 note, 59 note, 318. Triumphant 
Widow, The, 156-160, 157 notes, 162, 
163, 165, 167, 320. tfpon Giving 
Mee The Late Kinges Picture, 134. 
Variety, The, 112-117, 114 notes, 
149, 168, 317 

Charles I, King, 8, 11, 13-19, 21-24, 
27, 28, 31, 33, 35, 37-44, 47, 51, 53, 
64, 73, 76 note, 86, 87, 92, 93, 109, 



119, 121, 149, 177, 247, 288 note, 
314 
Charles II, King, 14, 18, 20-22, 49, 
50, 53. 55. 58, 60-65, 69, 70, ^^„ 
78, 83, 84, 98, 115, 118, 119, 122 
note, 127, 129-132, 134, 134 note, 
137, 142, 169, 255, 288 note, 290, 
293, 296, 302, 306, 311, 314, 320, 

323 
Charleton, Walter, 5, 7 note, 259, 

304 
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 93 note, 129, 220. 

Canterbury Tales, T7ie, 204 
Chesterfield, Lord, 170 
Cholmley, Sir Hugh, 27, 42, 45 note, 

81. Memoirs, 42 note. Memorials 

of the Battle of York, 37 note 
Cibber, Theophilus, Lives of the Poets, 

T7ie, 48 note, 286 note 
Cock Laurel, 168 
Cokayne, G. E., 46, 46 note. Complete 

Peerage, 7, 14 note 
Coke, Sir John, 17 note 
Colbert, Jean, 129 
Collection of Letters and Poems to the 

late Duke and Duchess of Newcastle, 

258 note 
Collections and Notes. Wither to Prior 

(Groher Club), 173 note 
Collins, Arthur, 7. Historical Collec- 
tions, 7, 12 note, 53 note 
Con, George, 43 note 
Congreve, William, 146. Double 

Dealer, The, 290 note. L^ve for 

Love, 146 
Connoisseur, The, 177 
Constable, John, 41 
Constable, Sir Henry, Viscount Dun- 
bar, 41 
Cosin, Dr., Dean of Peterborough, 23, 

282, 282 note 
Costello, Louisa, S., 258 note, 307. 

Memoirs of Eminent Englishwomen, 

258 note, 307 note 
Cottington, Francis, Lord, 14 
Cottrell, Sir Charles, 60 
Cox, Nicholas, Gentleman's Recreation, 

The, 140, 140 note 
Cox, Robert, 116 note 
Crofts, Lord, 49 
Cromwell, Oliver, 38, 39, 142 
Crowne, John, 162 
Cru\\,]oducus, Antiquities of St.Peter's, 

The, 71 note 



330 



THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 



Davenant, Sir William, 23, 120, 120 
note, 121, 167, 246. Gondibert, 24,6. 
Upon ike Marriage of the Lady Jane 
Cavendish, 121. JVorks, 121 note 

Davenport, Robert, 119, 119 note 

Defoe, Daniel, Memoirs 0/ a Cavalier, 
31 note, 37 note 

Descartes, Rene, 124, 125, 127, 136, 
167, 195 

De Solleysel, 139, 140, 318. Le Par- 
fait Mareschal, 140 

Dictionary of National Biography, The, 
7, 46 note, 54 note, 99 note, 100 
note, 116 note, 119 note, 120 note, 
140 note, 141 note, 172 note, 203 
note, 233 note, 288 note 

Diepenbeck, Abraham, 99, 137, 173 
note 

Digby, Kenelm, 259 

D'Israeli, Isaac, 178 note. Curiosities 
of Literature, 178 note 

Donne, John, 182, 263. Storm, The, 
263 note 

Downes, John, 150, 151. Roscitis An- 
glicanus, 150, 151 note 

Doyle, J. E., Official Baronage of Eng- 
land, The, 53 note 

Drake, Francis, Eborauitn, 25, 26 note, 
36 note 

Drayton, Michael, 181 note. A^yrn- 
phidia, 18 1 note 

Drunken Lover, The, 160 

Dryden, John, 85, 144, 150-152, 150 
note, 152 note, 154, 162, 167, 220 
note, 314, 319. Absalom and Achito- 
phel, 163 note. Assignation, The, 
162. Evening's Love, An, 152. Fables, 
220 note. Mac-Flecknoe, 154 note. 
Notes and Observations on the Em- 
press of Morocco, 162. Sir Martin 
Mar-all, 150-152, 314, 319. Vindi- 
cation of the Duke of Guise, A, 154 
note 

Duarti, Eleanora, 250 

Duarti, Frances, 250 note 

Duarti, Katherine, 250 note 

Duarti, Mr., 249, 250 

Du Verger, S., 199 note. LIumble Re- 
flections, 199 note 

Dyce, Alexander, 102. Specimens of 
the British Poetesses, 173 note, 321 

East Friesland, Prince of, 58 
Egglesfield, Francis, 108, 109, 11 1 



Elizabeth, Queen, 132, 201 

Ellis, Clement, 65 note 

Ellis, Sir Henry, Original Letters, 17 

note, 20 note, 24-25 notes, 40 note, 

n8 note, 320 
English Historical Review, 32 note, 37 

note 
Etherege, Sir George, 260, 302 
Evelyn, John, 70, 298-300, 305. Diary, 

ed. Wheatley, 48 note, 50 note, 206 

note, 258 note, 300 notes 
Evelyn, Mistress, 299 

Fairfax, Lady Anne, 29 

Fairfax, Fernando, I,.ord, 24, 25, 28, 

34. 35. 81 

Fairfax, Sir Thomas, 26, 28, 29, 34 

Fane, Francis, 261 

Firth, C. H., i, 2, 5, 32, 54, 57 note, 
78, 82, 108, 126, 158, 266. Editor 
oi Life of William Cavendishe, The, 
7 notes, 10 note, 21-22 notes, 24- 
26 notes, 28 note, 32-33 notes, 37 
note, 41 note, 45 note, 51 note, 58 
note, 60 note, 64-65 notes, 82 note, 
99 note, 1 14 note, 118 note, 120 note, 
126-127 notes, 136 note, 158 note, 
174 note, 184 note, 233 note, 249 
note, 255 note, 267-274 notes, 285 
notes, 287-288 notes, 291 notes, 297 
notes, 303 note, 307 note, 320, 

324 

Fleay, F. G., 107. Chrotticle of the 
English Di-ama, A, 107 note 

Flecknoe, Richard, 141-144, 142 note, 
154, 260. Birthday, The, 142. Col- 
lection of Choicest Epigrams, A, 144. 
Damoiselles h la Mode, 143. Dis- 
course of the English Stage, A, 142. 
Enigmaticall Characters, 141. Epi- 
g7-amsof all Sorts, i43,i42-i43notes. 
Euterpe Revived, 144. Farrago of 
Several Pieces, A, 142, 143. Heroick 
Portraits, 142. Love's Dominion, 
142 note. Love's A'ingdom, 142. Of 
We I beck, 142. On the Death of the 
Lady Jean Cheney, 144. On the 
Dutchess of Newcastles Closset, 142. 
Relation of Ten Years' Travels, A, 
141. To James, 142 

Fletcher, John, 164, 184 

Ford, John, 94, 95, 100, 167. Chronicle 
Lfistorie of Perkin Warbeck, The, 94. 
Works, 94 note 



INDEX 



331 



Forsythe, R. S., 104, 105, 107-109, 
III, 112, 114 note, delations of 
Shirley's Plays, The, 104, 104-105 
notes, 1 09- 1 1 o notes, 1 1 4 note 
Fortnightly Review, The, 107 note 
French Dancing Master, The, 115 

Gardiner, S. R., 32, 36. History of 
England, 1603-1642, 22 note, 43 
note. History of the Great Civil War, 
27 note, 32 note 

Gassendi, Pierre, 124, 167 

General System of Horsemanship, A, 
136- 317-318 

Geoffrey of Monmouth, 215 

Gifford, William, 87 

Glanvill, Joseph, 259, 259 note. Letters 
and Poems to Margaret, Dtichess of 
Newcastle, 259 note 

Gloucester, Duke of, 60 

Goldsmith, Oliver, 255. Citizen of the 
World, The, 255 

Goring, General George, 26-28, 36, 
82 

Gosse, Edmund, 107, 113 note. Editor 
of Shirley's Selected Plays (Mermaid 
Series), 107 note, 113 note. Seven- 
teenth-Century Studies, 294 note 

Goulding, R. W., 8 note, 275, 275 note, 
278 note, 288 note. Editor of Let- 
ters Writte7t by Charles Lamb's 
^^Princely Woman,'' 275, 288 note, 
292 note 

Green, Mrs. Mary Anne, Editor of 
Letters of Henrietta Maria, 23 note, 
26-28 notes, 30-31 notes, 40 note, 
120 note 

Grison, Frederic, 138 

Guise, Duke of, 52 

Halliwell-Phillipps, J. O., 102. Collec- 
tion of Letters, A, 1 24 note. Diction- 
ary of Old English Plays, A, 102 

Hamilton, Anthony, 301, 303. Mem- 
oirs of Count Gram-mont, 301, 301 
note 

Hamilton, Duke of, 33, 53, 54 

Harington, Sir John, 182 note 

Harmar, John, 198 note 

Hatton, Christopher, 296. Hatton 
Correspondence (Camden Society), 
296 note 

Hazlitt, W. C, Collections and Notes, 
199 note. Handbook to Popular, 



Poetical and Dramatic Literature, 5 
note 

Heath, James, Brief Chronicle, A, 38 
note, 40 note 

Henrietta Maria, Queen, 3, 18, 20-23, 
26 note, 27, 28, 31, 40 note, 43, 45- 
50,81,92,93, 119, 120, 172, 192, 272, 
2731 275, 276, 278, 279, 281, 282 

Henry VIII, King, 133 note 

Herbert, Lord, of Cherbury, 97 note 

Herbert, William, Earl of Pembroke, 
170. De Veritate, 97 note 

Herrick, Robert, 174, 181. Hesperides, 
The, 174, 181 notes 

Hesse, Landgrave of, 58 

Historical Manuscripts' Commission 
Reports, 13-14 notes, 17 note, 21- 
22 notes, 55 notes, 64 note, 68-70 
notes, 173 note, 261 note, 278 note, 
296 notes, 298 note, 304 note. Wel- 
beck Manuscripts, Snote, i i-i 2 notes, 
14 note, 18 note, 22 note, 27 note, 
30 note, 33 note, 48 note, 54-55 
notes, 66 note, 69 note, 7 1 note, 95- 
99 notes, 119 note, 278 note, 282 
note, 291-292 notes 

Hobbes, Thomas, 73, 85, 95, 96, 98, 
99, 122-126, 122 note, 128-132,128 
note, 134, 166, 187 note, 192, 195, 
23O) 237,259, 314. Decameron Physi- 
ologicum, 187 note. De Corpore, 187 
note. De Homi7te, 124. Elements 
of Law, Natural and Politique, 99. 
Elements of Philosophy, 195. Eng- 
lish Works, 122-124 notes, 126 note. 
Latin Works, 123 note, 187 note. 
Leviathan, 126, 195. Minute or First 
Draught of the Optiques, A, 124. On 
Illumination, 124. On Vision, 124. 
Questions Concerning Liberty, Neces- 
sity and Chance, The, 123 

Holland, Earl of, 16, 21 

Horace, 168. Ars Poetica, 168 note 

Hotham, Captain, John, 22, 27, 30, 81 

Hotham, Sir John, 27, 81 

Howard, Henry, 11, 68 

Howell, James, Epistolce Ho-Eliance, 

251 
Humours of Monsieur Gatllard, The, 

116 
Hunt, Leigh, 178 note. Men, Women, 

and Books, 178 note 
Huntington, Henry E., 173 note, 179 

note, 233 note 



332 



THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 



Hutchinson, Colonel, 33, 64, 70, 81, 
84 

Hutchinson, Mrs. Lucy, 83. Memoirs 
of Colonel Hutchinson, 21 note, 23 
note, 33 notes, 55 note, 65 note, 70 
note, 83, 318 

Huth, F. N., Works on Horses and 
Equitation, 135 note 

Hyde, Edward, Earl of Clarendon, 
20, 24,37,42, 54, 58,81,92, 127 note, 
135, 184 note. History of the Rebel- 
lioft, 20 note, 22 note, 25-26 notes, 
32 note, 36 note, 42 note, 50 note, 
58 note, 92 note. Life of Clarendon 
by himself, 58 note. State Papers, 18 
note, 27 note 

Irving, Washington, 7 1 . Sketch Book, 
The, 7 1 . Works, 7 1 note 

James I, King, 10, 11, 44, 46, 87, 267 
note 

Jenkins, Edward, 237 note, 262 note. 
Editor of The Cavalier and his Lady, 
191 note, 237 note, 262 note, 266, 
303 note, 322 

Jermyn, Henry, Lord, 22, 277 

John, Don, of Austria, 53 note, 59 

Johnson, Samuel, 152 note, 170. Lives 
of the Poets, 152 note, 179 note 

Jones, Inigo, 90, 93 

Jonson, Ben, 14, 18, 85-88,90-94, 103, 
105, 1 13, 1 14, 149, 164, 166-168, 184, 
220, 262, 314. Cynthia's Revels, 1 13. 
Devil is an Ass, The, 104, 1 13. 
Every Man in his Humour, 104. 
Love's Welcome at Bolsover, 18. 
Love''s Welcome at Welbeck, 92. Mag- 
netic Lady, The, 93 note. A^ezv Inn, 
The, 90, 93 note. Silent Woman, 
77ie, iiT,, 262. Staple of A^ews, The, 
113. Triumph of Charis, The, 1 14 
note. Underwoods, Z^. Volpone,iiT,. 
Works, 86-94 notes 

Jusserand, J. J., 251, 286 note. English 
Novel in the Time of Shakespeare, 
The, 251 note, 286 note 

Kenny, James, 251 note 

Kerr, Mina, Influence of Ben fonsott 

on English Comedy, The, 104 note, 

113 note 
Killigrew, Thomas, 115 
King, General James, Lord Ethyn, 



25, 26, 29, 30, 34 note, 35, 37, 43, 45, 
82 

Kingston, Earl of, 29, 82 

Kipling, Rudyard, 2 10 note. Man Who 
Would Be King, The, 210 note 

Kippis, Andrew, 178 note. Editor of 
Biographia Britannica, 12 note, 
178 note, 259 note 

Kirkman, Francis, 116 note. Wits, 
The, 116 

Koeppel, Emil, 104, 107. Benfonson's 
Wirkung, 104 note, 107 note. Shake- 
speare^ s Wirkung, 107 note 

Lamb, Charles ("Elia"), 1, 3, 6, 203 
note, 251,312. Essays of Elia,y note, 
203 note, 251 note, 312 note 

Laney, Benjamin, Bishop of Ely, 123 

Langbaine, Gerard, 6, 85, 140, 142, 
150, 156, 169, 214 note. English 
Dramatick Poets, The, 6, 85 note, 
ii6note, 140 note, 2i4note. Hunter, 
The, 140 

Lawes, Henry, 57 

Legg, Colonel William, 22, 69 

Leicester, Earl of, 113, 170 

Leigh, Joseph, 112 

Lely, Sir Peter, 166 

Letters and Poems in Honour of the 
Dutchess ofA^eu'castle, 6 note, 8 note, 
198 note, 249 note, 258 

Letters of Eloisa and Abelard, 25 1 

Lichfield, Leonard, 140 

Lilly, William, History' of his Life and 
Times, 39 note 

Locke, John, 166 

Tacrine, 216 

Lodge, Edmund, Portraits of Illustri- 
otts Personages, 13 note 

Lohr, Anton, 142 notes 

Long, Robert, 54 

Longueville, Thomas, 12 note. First 
Duke and Duchess of A^ewcastle, The, 
12-13 notes, 26-27 notes, 32 note, 
35 note, 69 notes, 74 note, 274 note 

Lort, Dr., 287 

Lower, M. A., 5 note, 265 note, 266, 
270 note. Editor of Life of William 
Cavendishe, The, 265 note, 324 

Lucas, Ann, 250 

Lucas, Sir Charles, 36, 206 note 

Lucas, Madam Elizabeth, 48, 267 

Lucas, John, Lord, 48, 56, 71 

Lyttleton, Sir Charles, 296 



INDEX 



333 



Mackworth, Sir Francis, 28 

Madan, Falconer, Summary Catalogue 
of the Western Mss., A, 127 note 

Maecenas, 2, 85, 155, 167, 169, 170 

Malone, Edmund, Editor of Shake- 
speare's Works, 1 1 5 note 

Malone Society Collections, 1 10 note, 
116 

Markham, Sir C. R., Life of Lord Fair- 
fax, 36 note 

Markham, Gervase, 135 note. Cavel- 
arice, 135 note. Discourse of Horse- 
manshJppe, A, 135 note 

Marvell, Andrew, 185 note. Last In- 
structions to a Painter, 185 note. 
Satires, 185 note 

Masson, David, Life of fohn Milton, 
TTie, 90 note 

Mayerne, Sir Theodore, 288 

Mayne, Jasper, 198, 198 note, 259 

Mazarin, Captain, 137 

Milton, John, 177, 178, 178 note, 215. 
Comtis, 121, 215. II Penseroso, 178. 
U Allegro, 178 

Moliere, 150. Le Bourgeois Gentil- 
homme, 116 note. VEtourdi, 151. 
CEuvres, 116 note 

Montegut, fimile, 92, 93 note, 128, 
182 note, 268, 268 note, 274 note, 
294. Marickal Davout, Le, 92 note. 
Duchesse et le Due de Newcastle, La, 
43 note, 92 note, 182 note, 191 note, 
268 note, 274 note, 294 note, 309 
note 

Montesquieu, Charles, 255. Lettres 
Persanes, 255 

Montrose, Earl of, 34, 40, 81 

More, Dr., 195. Antidote, 195. Of the 
Immortality of the Soul, 195 

Moseley, Humphrey, 112, 112 note, 

317 
Moundeford, Sir Edmond, 14 note 

Nason, A. Yi.., fames Shirley, loi note, 

107 note, no note 
Nethersole, Sir Francis, 12 
Neuberg, Duke of, 54 
Newport, Earl of, 25, 26, 82 
Nicholas, Sir Edward, 7, 40, 41 note, 

60, 136 
Nichols, John, 171 note. Progresses of 

fames the First, The, 1 1 note. Select 

Collection of Poems, A, 171 note 
Nicol, Alexander, Poems on Several 



Subjects, 211, 322. Treasure of 
Knowledge, A, 211, 322 

Ogle, Cuthbert, Lord, 7, 68 
Oldenburg, Duke of, 58 
Orange, Prince of, 45 
Ovid, 247, 310 

Pearson, John, Bishop of Chester, 259 

note 
Pepys, Samuel, 6, 70, 108, 112, 115, 

145, 150, 151, 270, 295-298, 295 

note, 301, 303, 305, 312. Diary, ed. 

Wheatley, 270 note, 296 note 
Pernauer, J. P. F., 140, 319 
Petty, Sir William, 122 note 
Philips, Mrs. Katherine ("Orinda"), 

172, 172 note, 270, 293-295, 310. 

Poems, 270 note, 293 note. 21? my 

Lady M. Cavendish, 293 
Piccolomini, Count, 46 
Plutarch, 244 

Poems by Eminent Ladies, 320 
Poems on Affairs of State, 168 note 
Pope, Alexander, 262, 286 note. Dun- 

ciad, The, 262 note 
Porter, Endymion, 51, 277 
Portland, Duke of, 127, 320 
Potage, Jaen, 249 
Pranks of Puck, TTie, 90 note 
Pugliano, J. P., 90 note 
Pye, Lady Catherine (nee Lucas), 

250, 250 note, 273 
Pye, Sir Edmund, 250 note 

Quinault, Philippe, L'Amant Indiscret, 

Raleigh, Sir Walter, 139 

Reresby, Sir John, 70, 296 note. Mem- 
oirs, 58 note, 70 note, 296 note 

Retrospective Reviro), The, 47 note, 
263 note 

Rhys, Ernest, 178 note, 204 note, 206 
note. Editor of Life of William 
Cavendishe, The (Everyman's Li- 
brary), 178 note, 187 note, 204 note, 
206 note, 299 notes, 324 

Richardson, Jonathan, 74 

Richardson, Samuel, 251, 255 

Richardson, Thomas, 287 

Robertson, G. C, Ilobbes, 124 note 

Rochester, Earl of, 156 note, 168. An 
Allusion to the Tenth Satire of the 
First Book of Horace, 1 56 note 



334 



THE FIRST DUCHESS OF NEWCASTLE 



Rolfe, W. J., i8i note 

RoUeston, John, 6f 8i, 227, 287, 291 

note 
Rupert, Prince, 30, 36-40, 42, 44 
Rushworth, John, 20, 82. Historical 

Collections, 20 note, 24 note, 26 note, 

28 note, 32 note, 34-36 notes, 121 

note 

St. Loo, Sir William, 68, 77 

Sampson, William, 99, 100, 99-100 
notes. Love's Metamorphosis, 100. 
Virtus post Funera vivit, 99 

Sanford, J. L., Studies and Illustra- 
tions, 37 note 

Saville, Sir William, 26 

Scott, Sir Walter, 3, 227 note, 301, 
303. Peveril of the Peak, 227 note, 
301, 301 note 

Scott, Sir Walter, and Saintsbury, 
George, 1 50 note. Editors of Dry- 
den's Works, 152 note, 154 notes 

Selden, John, 128-129 notes. Table- 
Talk, 128-129 notes, 132, 132 note 

Session of the Poets, The, 168 

Settle, Elkanah, 162, 163, 165-167, 
314. Empress of RIorocco, The, 162- 
163. Ibrahim, 162 notes, 166, 166 
note. Love and Revenge, 162, 165 

Shadwell, Thomas, 85, 1 52, 1 54, 1 56- 
158, 162, 163, 165-167, 260, 314. 
Bury Fair, 157-159, 157 notes, 163. 
Epsom. Wells, 155,162. Humourists, 
The, 155, 260. Libertine, 77ie, 156, 
162, 166. Sullen Lovers, The, or 
Impertinents, The, 154, 155. Vir- 
tuoso, The, 1 54 note, 155 

Shakespeare, William, 164, 170, 177, 
181, 184, 229, 247, 248. Henry IV, 
Part I, 131, 131 note. Henry VIII, 
79. Midsummer Night's Dream, A, 
181, 181 note. Romeo and fuliet, 
18 1 note. &««^jfj, 85 note. Twelfth 
Night, 229 note 

Shaw, Mr., 63 

Sheavyn, PhcEbe, 170 note. Literary 
Professio7i in the Elizabethan Age, 
The, 170 note 

Shirley, James, 85, 100-105, 107-113, 
119, 152, 167, 314. Arcadia, The, 
III. Ball, The, 113. Bird in a Cage, 
The, 106. Brothers, The, no. Cap- 
tain Underwit, 102, 103, 103 notes, 
106 note, 108. Constant Maid, The, 



105. Duke's Mistress, The, "105. 

Gejitleman of Venice, The, no. 

Humorous Courtier, The, 105. Hyde 

Park, 104. Imposture, The, no note. 

Lady of Pleasure, The, 104, 105. 

Look to the Lady, 108, i lo-i 12. Love 

ift a Maze, 104. Love Tricks, 1 13. 

Politician, The, no. To Odelia,\o\. 

Tragedy of St. Alb atis. The, 109 note. 

Traitor, The, 100. Witty Fair One, 

The, 104, 105. Works, loi notes, 

102 note 
Sidney, Sir Philip, 90 note, 170, 245 

note. Apologie for Poetrie, An, 90 

note 
Slingsby, Sir Henry, Diary, 26 note, 

30 note, 36 note 
Smith, L. P., Life and Letters of Sir 

Henry Wotton, The, 10 notes 
Southampton, Earl of, 170 
Southey, Robert, 175 note. Common- 
place Book, 175 note 
Spenser, Edmund, 170, 184 
Stanley, A. P., 307. Memorials of 

Westminster Abbey, yyj 
Stationers^ Register, 108, 108 note, 

in 
Stephen, Sir Leslie, Hobbes, 122 note 
Strickland, Agnes, Lives of the Queens 

of England, 19 note 
Strong, S. A., 127, 134, 168. Cata- 
logue of Letters etc. in Welbeck Abbey, 

96 note, 127-128, 127 note, 134 

note, 292 note, 320 
Suckling, Sir John, 22, 119, 120, 167 
Suffolk, Earl of, 11, 68 
Swift, Jonathan, 170. Tale of a Tub, 

The, 170 
Swinburne, A. C, 93 note, 107. Study 

of Ben fonson. A, 93 note 

Talbot, Edward, Earl of Shrewsbury, 
88 

Talbot, George, Earl of Shrewsbury, 
8, 68, 77 

Talbot, Gilbert, Earl of Shrewsbury, 
8, II, 12, 77 

Talbot, Jane (nee Ogle), Countess of 
Shrewsbury, 11, 22, 88 

Talbot, Mary (nee Cavendish), Count- 
ess of Shrewsbury, 8, 12 

Thorpe, Benjamin, Catalogue of Mss., 
1 19 note 

Throckmorton, Sir William, 50 



INDEX 



335 



Tinker, C. B., 294 note. Salon and 

English Letters, The, 294 note 
Toppe, Lady, 174, 174 note 
Tuke, Samuel, 259 

Upham, A. IT., 84 note 

Van Dyck, Sir Anthony, 66, 99, 166, 
184 

Van Helmont, Jean, 195 

Vaughan, Robert, Protectorate of Crom- 
well^ The, 122 note, 124 note 

Verney, Frances, Memoirs of the Ver- 
ney Family, 21 note 

Villiers, George, first Duke of Buck- 
ingham, 13 

Villiers, George, second Duke of Buck- 
ingham, 13 note, 51, 55, 64, 76, 76 
note 

Virgil, 247 

Waller, Edmund, 124, 167, 179, 179 
note, 227 note 

Walpole, Horace, Earl of Oxford, 3, 6, 
135, 290, 306. Catalogue of Royal 
and Noble Authors, A, ed. Park, 6 
note, 135 note, 144-145 notes, 
172 notes, 268 note, 287 note, 290 
note 

Warburton, Bishop, 135 

Warburton, Eliot, Memoirs of Prince 
Rupert, 35 note, 39-40 notes 

Ward, Sir A. W., 311, 312. History of 
English Dramatic Literature, A, 90 
note, 107 note 



Warner, Mr., 96, 97 

Warwick, Sir Philip, 30, 32, 74 note, 
120. Memoirs, 30 note, 32-34 notes, 
120 note 

Wentworth, Thomas, Earl of Straf- 
ford, 14, 15, 17, 19. Letters, 15 note, 
17 note, 19 note 

Westmoreland, Earl of, 173 note 

Whibley, Charles, 290 note 

Whincop, Thomas, 145. Theatrical 
Records, 145 note 

Whitelock, Sir Bulstrode, 82 

Widdrington, Lord, 50, 62, 276 

Widmerpoole, Major, 55 note 

Wilkins, Dr., Bishop of Chester, 306, 

307 
Willcock, John, Life of Sir Henry 

Vane the Younger, 34 note 
William the Conqueror, 76 
Williams, John, 108, 109, 11 1 
Willis, Bishop, 287 
Windebank, Sir Francis, 18 
Wishart, George, 34. De Rebus Aus- 

piciis Caroli, 34 note 
Wit Restored, 160 
Wood, Anthony a, 7, 46, 100, 102, 113. 

Athena Oxonietises, 7 note, 46 note, 

100, 198 note, 259 note 
Woodford, John, 12 
Wotton, Sir Henry, 10, 45, 86 ^ 

York, Duchess of, 296 
York, Duke of, 60, 62, 296 
Yorkshire Diaries (Surtees Society), 
28 note 



C 49 89 





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